366 Mr. J. Miers on the Meuispermaceae. 



flower, which are not seen in Hypserpa. In this latter genus 

 the flowers are always heteromerous, the more membranaceous 

 sepals are conspicuously imbricated in aestivation, and there are 

 many other discrepant characters which it is not necessaiy to 

 repeat here, as they have been already described. Limacia will 

 therefore maintain its ground, distinct from Hypserpa, within 

 the limits I pointed out thirteen years ago ; but, as at that pe- 

 riod I had not seen the fruit, Limacia was then placed among 

 the Pachyyonece, in accordance with the meagre details of its 

 structure given by Loureiro. When I first noticed this group 

 of plants, I named it Stereoclen, on account of the peculiar aesti- 

 vation of its sepals ; but on seeing Loureiro's plant in the British 

 Museum, I instantly recognized it as the same : the previous 

 name was therefore made to indicsite the triandrous section, 

 which for the present is retained in the genus, but which pro- 

 bably will turn out to be distinct when its fruit is known. 

 There is a general analogy between Limacia and Hypserpa in 

 the form of the putamen, the kind of condyle, and the structure 

 of the albuminous seed : the former has the same accumbent 

 cotyledons as the latter; but the entire embryo is broader and 

 more flattened, and there is a diff^erence in the relative lengths 

 of the radicle and cotyledons. The authors of the ' Flora Indica' 

 and of the ' Genera Plantarum' place Limacia in the same tribe 

 with Cocculus; but it cannot consistently remain there, owing 

 to the peculiar structure of the embryo. The species of Limacia 

 are distributed through tropical Asia, the Eastern archipelago, 

 China, and Japan ; but the botanists above mentioned record 

 only three of them. 



Limacia, Lour. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 9, in ordine ter- 

 nario alternatim disposita, 6 exteriora minora, bracteiformia, 

 3 interiora majora, concava, subrotunda, utrinque sericea, 

 sestivatione arete valvata, dein apicibus reflexis, marginibus 

 basalibus conniventibus. Petala 6, subbiserialia, obovata, 

 unguiculata, sepalis multo minora, lateribus inflexis stamina 

 amplectentibus. Stamina 6 (interdum 3), libera, petalis sub- 

 aequalia, ad eorum unguem adnata, et androecio centrali imo 

 coalita; filamenta subincurva, erecta, carnosula, apice incras- 

 sata, interdum antice hirsuta; anthera conniventes, 2-lobae, 

 cordatae, marginibus rima longitudinali utrinque hiantes. 

 Ovaria rudimentaria apice andrcecii, punctiformia. — Foem. Se- 

 pala et petala ut in masc. Stamina sterilia 6 (vel 3), aequalia; 

 filamenta tenuiora, erecta, petalis involuta, apice (ex antheris 

 efFoetis) 2-loba. Ovaria 3, libera, sepalis interioribus opposita, 

 gibba, dense hirsuta, gynaecio brevi hirsuto insita, 1-locularia, 

 1-ovuIata; stylus brevis; stigma excentricum, subtrilobum, 



