53 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacese. 



a globular head, not sessile as in that genus, but borne on the 

 apex of a long slender monadelphous column as in Cissampelos. 

 It has 6 sepals, obsoletely saccate or swollen at base, as m Jateo- 

 rhiza, imbricated in 3 series, and 6 distinct petals. The stenle 

 stamens of the female flower are arranged in an annular whorl 

 round the stipitate gynsecium, on which 3 unilocular ovaries 

 are seated. The putamen, as in Rhigiocarya, is covered with pro- 

 minent, obtusely hooked, echinated spines, arranged in longi- 

 tudinal series, the dorsal middle row terminating in a long apical 

 tooth. The condyle is formed as in Odontocarya and Aspido- 

 carya ; but, for want of perfect specimens, the shape of the 

 embryo is not known. 



PARAB.FNA, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, oblonga vel 

 spathulato-oblonga, 3-seriata, imo carnosa et subsaccata, 3 

 exteriora angustiora et paulo breviora, extus sericea, sestiva- 

 tione imbricata. Petala 6, parva, spathulato-oblonga, extus 

 dorso carinata, imo carnosa, erecta. Stamina monadelpha : 

 filamenta in columnam teretem gracilem centralem coalita; 

 anthera 6, subglobosse, supra columnam 2-serialiter arete 

 aggregatae, 4'-sulcat8e, 4-locellat8e, rima transversali 2-valvatim 

 hiantes. — Fcem. Sepala et petala ut in masc. Stamina sterilia 

 6, gynsecium ambientia, summo glanduloso-4-loba. Ovaria 3, 

 gynsecio brevi imposita, libera, erecta, gibba, glabra, 1-locu- 

 laria, ovulo unico ad angulum internum medio appenso ; stylus 

 brevis, teres ; stigma dilatato-recurvum, sulcatum. Drupee 3, 

 ovatse, subcarnosse, stigmate persistente subexcentrico apicu- 

 latae : putamen osseum, suborbiculare, compressum, ventre 

 subplanum, ad dorsum convexum, spinis obtusis hamatis in 

 seriebus longitudinalibus exasperatum, serie centrali promi- 

 neutiore, et hinc in dentem longum apiculatum : condylus 

 medio faciei ventralis, ovatus, extus concavus, intra loculum 

 convexus ; semen loculo conforme, summo condyli affixum ; 

 csetera ignota. 



Frutices scandentes Indies orientalis; folia oblonga aut ovata, 

 apice repente attenuata, cordata, vel angulato-hastata, 5-9- 

 nervia, integra, aut sinuato-dentata ; panicula axillaris, petiolo 

 sublongior, 



1. Parabcena sagittata, nob. ; — Ind. Orient. 



Described in the ' Contributions to Botany,* vol. iii. 



11. ASPIDOCARYA. 



This genus, established by the authors of the ' Flora Indica,* 

 is one of much interest ; its stamens are monadelphous after the 

 manner of Cissampelos; the shape of its extremely flattened puta- 



