Ml'. J. Miei's on the Menlsperinacea?. 17 



than the leaf; its alternate branches, bracteolated at base, are 

 dichotomously divided, the branches bearing many alternate 

 pedicels, bracteolated at base, and spicately arranged. 



Clambus, nob. ; — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, biserlata, sub- 

 sequalia, alternatim paululo angustiora, oblonga, petaloidea, 

 nervo longitudinali signata, patentia, aestivatione imbricata, 

 Petala 6, subbiseriata, sequalia, sepalis dimidio breviora, 

 lineari-oblonga, apice emarginata, crasso-carnosa. Stamen 

 unicum, centrale; filamentum tenue, sepalis paulo brevius; 

 anthera peltata, 3-localaris, annuliformis, circa connectivum 

 peltiforme affixa, loculis emarginatis, transversim bilocellatis, 

 extus horizontaliter 2-valvatim deliiscentibus. — Fl. fcem. et 

 fructus ignoti. 



Frutex Mexicanus, forsan voluhilis, glaherrimis ; folia alterna, 

 palata, late ovata vel elliptica, nitida, subtus incana, pinnatO' 

 nervosa, breviter petiolata : panicula ,^ axillaris, glaberrima, 

 gracilis, folio longior, bracteolata, mox ramosa, ramis longius- 

 cults, ramulis spicatim plurifloris ; flores minuti, brevissime 

 pedicellati. 



The single species, Clambus araneosus, will be described in the 

 third volume of the * Contributions to Botany.' 



31. Cyclea. 



This genus, established by Dr. Arnott, was confounded with 

 Clypea and Stephania, until I first pointed out the lines of de- 

 marcation between them. It is easily distinguished from them 

 by its habit, another kind of inflorescence, by having a gamo- 

 sepalous calyx, a turbinately campanular corolla, both of them 

 often toothed or cut into deeply laciniated segments, and by 

 having a very difi'erent putamen. The authors of the * Flora 

 Indica,' in acknowledging the validity of Cyclea, rightly united 

 my genus Rhaptomeris with it : in the former the calyx and co- 

 rolla are tubular, with a four- or five-toothed border; in the 

 latter the segments are deeper; so that the difierence is only one 

 of degree, and is consequently of specific rather than of generic 

 value. A casual observer may be misled in regard to the num- 

 ber of floral parts in the female flower ; for in examining a capi- 

 tate head of flowers, a number of persistent scales, varying from 

 four to twelve, may be seen sometimes surrounding an ovary ; 

 but these extra scales really belong to other abortive flowers 

 congregated on the same receptacle. The learned botanists, in 

 their work above mentioned (p. 200), describe the female flower 

 of Cijclea as having two sepals laterally placed about a solitary 

 ovary, without any petal ; but this does not correspond with my 



Ann.Sf Mag. N. Hist. Ser.3. Fo/.xviii. 2 



