194 Mr. J. Miers on some of the Heliotropiese. 



fruit baccate, 4-lobed, depressed, with four nuts, as in the 

 generic diagnosis. 



2. Messerschmidtia Martiij nob. ; — Toumefortia Martii, Fresen. 

 in Mart. Fl. Bras. xix. p. 55 ; — subscandens, ramis teretibus, 

 subglabris, in junioribus sparse pilosulis ; foliis oblongis, 

 imo rotundatis, gradatim angustatis, acutis, membranaceis, 

 supra densius, subtus sparse strigoso-pilosis, pilis e tuberculis 

 albis et adpressis ; petiolo tenuissimo, pilosulo, limbo 8-plo 

 breviore : paniculis axillaribus, laxis, bis dichotomis aut 

 subpentastachyis, ramis subcompressis, valde divaricatis, 

 pubescentibus, ultimis spicatifloris ; floribus sessilibus, 

 1-serialibus, puberulis. — In Brasilia, prov. Bahia et Espirito 

 Santo : v. s. in herb, meo (E-io Ilheos, Mart.). 



A plant 10-20 feet high, with scandent or weak straggling 

 branches scarcely a line in thickness, with axils 6-9 lines 

 apart ; leaves 2-3^ inches long, 1-1 f inch broad, on a very 

 slender petiole 2^-3 lines long ; peduncle 8 lines long, with 

 two divaricating arms 5 lines long, each bearing two or three 

 floriferous spikes 1^ inch long, with about ten or twelve some- 

 what distant flowers ; sepals 1\ line long j tube of corolla 

 2 lines long, swollen below the mouth, segments narrow, 

 1 line long, with introflected margins ; anthers cohering by 

 their barbated summits ; ovary glabrous, subglobular, dis- 

 tinctly 4-lobed; style swollen at its apex by a crenulated 

 annular ring j stigma short, conical and papillose. 



3. Messerschmidtia Organensis^ nob. ; — scandens, ramis pen- 

 dentibus, flexuosis, fistulosis, angulato-compressis, glaber- 

 rimis j foliis oblongis, imo rotundatis, acute acuminatis, 

 membranaceis, utrinque glaberrimis, marginibus subrevo- 

 lutis ; petiolo glabro, canaliculato, limbo 8-plo breviore ; 

 axillis plerisque floriferis : paniculis supra-axillaribus, foliis 

 paulo longioribus, glaberrimis, longe et tenuiter peduncu- 

 latis, ebracteatis, alternatim ramosis, ramis laxis, tenuibus, 

 spicatifloris ; floribus remotiusculis, breviter pedicellatis ; 

 sepalis et lobis corollae longe subulatis. — In Brasiha, prov. 

 E-io de Janeiro : v. v. ad Imbuhy in montibus Organensibus. 



I found this very distinct species in 1838, growing in virgin 

 forests. The axils are IJ-l J inch apart ; the leaves are 2-^-3 

 inches long, 10-13 lines broad, on a petiole 4-5 lines long. 

 The panicles are always supra-axillary, 2-|-3 inches long, com- 

 pletely glabrous, on a slender naked peduncle l-lj inch long, 

 bearing eight or ten alternate slender patent spicated branches 

 6-9 lines long. The terminal panicle is pyramidal, 6 inches 

 long, and compound, consisting of a great many alternate 



