372 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermaceae. 



in Homocnemia its four stamens are raonadelphous to near their 

 apex ; while in Detandra and Sijrrhonema (each with only three 

 stamens) these are united together for more than half their 

 length. 



PsELiuM, Lour. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, spathulato- 

 oblonga, basi longe unguiculata, 2-seriaUa, 3 exteriora paulo 

 minora, utrinque pilosa. Petala 6, glabra, sepalis quinto 

 breviora, spathulato-oblonga, lateribus inflexis, subauriculatis, 

 summo incurvata. Stamina G, sequalia ; jilamenta teretia, ul- 

 tra medium in columnam centralem monadclpham coalita, 

 3 interiora fere ad apicem conjuncta; antherce subglobosse, 

 subquadriloba3, subextrorsum apicifixa?, utrinque rima trans- 

 versali dehiscentes. — Fl.fcem. ignoti. 



Frutex scandens, Cochinchinensis, pubescens; folia reniformiuy 

 5-7iervia ; petiolus tenuis ; paniculae bime, supra-axillares, pe- 

 tiolo multo breviora. 



The single species, Pselium ambiguurn, is described in the 

 3rd vol. of * Contributions to Botany.* 



23. Ileocarpus. 



This genus was proposed by me in 1851 for a plant in Schim- 

 per^s Abyssinian collection : it is allied to Pericampylus and 

 Menispermum on account of its putamen and seed, and approaches 

 the following genus, Homocnemia. It differs, however, from 

 Menispermum in its isomerous stamens, and from Pericampylus 

 in its peltate leaves, in having only three membranaceous sepals, 

 three smaller alternate petals, and a single ovary, with a short 

 thick style and a somewhat erect stigma. Homocnemia differs 

 from it in its tetramerous arrangement, having four sepals, four 

 minute petals, and one compressed ovary on a disk-shaped sup- 

 port, and an obsoletely 2-lobed stigma. The authors of the 

 * Flora Indica ' and of the new ' Genera Plantarum ' unite this 

 genus with Stephania, and strangely assert that the typical plant 

 is not distinguishable from Stephania hei'nandifolia. But Ileo- 

 carpus cannot be reconciled in any way with Stephania, on ac- 

 count of the absence of the perforation in the condyle, the pre- 

 sence of which is a universal feature in every species of that 

 genus that I have seen. It cannot be denied that the plant in 

 question has peltate leaves, and a habit like that of Stephania ', 

 but not more so than are found in Cyclea, Clypea, and many 

 species of Cissampelos : the latter and Clypea are indeed the only 

 genera among the whole group that harmonize with Ileocarpus 

 in the structure of the putamen ; the latter genus differs from all 

 the rest in the shortness of its cotyledons compared with the 

 length of the radicle. 



