Melinia. ASCLEPIADACE^. 101 



10-20-flowered, somewhat paniculate or racemiform : flowers greenish-white, hardly 3 lines 

 in diameter : corolla-lobes oblong, thickish-edged : divisions of the crown short (hardly at 

 all exceeding the anthers), merely and obtusely 3-lobed at the apex; the middle lobe at 

 most twice the length of the lateral ones, obtuse or eraarginate : follicles oblong, thick, 3 

 or 4 inches long. — Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 160. Gonolobus uni/arius, Scheele in Linn. xxi. 

 760, the insignificant specific name from the pubescence in a line down the stem, in a 

 manner most common in the order. — Along streams, Texas, Lindheimer, Wright, &c. 



12. METAST^ILMA, R. Br. (Formed of fierd, change of, and atiXfia, 



girdle or crown, having 5 processes or scales in place of the ordinary crown.) — 



Twining perennial herbs or somewhat woody plants (American and mainly 



tropical), usually slender, and with small opposite leaves. Flowers small in 



axillary umbelliform clusters, white or sometimes greenish. 



§ 1. EuMETASTELMA, Benth. & Hook. Crown borne on the base of the 



corolla or of the short or else obsolete column. 

 M. FrAseri, Decaisne in DC. Prodr. viii. 513, " Carolina 1 Fraser," was probably West 



Indian, perhaps same as M. albijiorum, Griseb., doubtless not Carolinian. 



M. barbigerum, Scheele. Glabrous : stems slender : leaves from ovate-oblong to nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, cuspidate-acuminate, rounded at base, glandular at base of midrib : 

 peduncles shorter than the petiole and the 3 to 5 pedicels, often very short: corolla (nearly 

 2 lines long, greenish outside), 5-parted ; the lobes linear and strongly white-villous inside : 

 scales of the crown slender-subulate, on the base of the corolla, a little surpassing the 

 anthers: column extremely short. — Linn. xxi. 760; Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 159. — Open 

 woods and rocky banks, Texas. (Adjacent Mex.) 



M. Blodgettii, Gray. Nearly glabrous : stems filiform : leaves narrowly lanceolate, very 

 acute (half inch or more long, a line or so wide), rounded at base, short-petioled : peduncle 

 very short or obsolete, 3-6-flowered : pedicels about the length of- the flower (one line) ; 

 corolla cleft almost to base ; the lobes oblong-lanceolate, within densely penicillate-bearded 

 just below the apex, glabrous or with a few sparse hairs below : scales of the crown 

 slender-subulate, inserted on the base of the corolla, half the length of its lobes, hardly 

 surpassing the anthers : column distinct but shorter than the anthers. — Proc. Am. Acad, 

 xii. 73. M. parvijiomm, Chapm. Fl. 367, not R. Br. — Piue Key, S. Florida, Blodgett. (Prob- 

 ably also W. Indian.) 

 M. Calif6rnicum, Benth. Sulph. 33, t. 18, is from Bay of Magdalena, Lower California, 



nearly under the tropic. 



§ 2. Epicion, Griseb. Crown borne on the summit of the elongated column 



close to the anthers. 



M. Bahamense, Griseb. Nearly glabrous : leaves round-oval to oblong (an inch or 

 less long), mucronate-cuspidate, slender-petioled : peduncles equally or slightly surpassing 

 the petiole, 3-6-flo\vered : corolla 2 lines long, campanulate ; the lobes ovate-oblong, densely 

 puberulent along the broad thickened margins : column 3 or 4 times the length of the 

 anthers, 5-wing-angled at base : scales of the crown oblong-falcate, laterally compressed 

 and internally carinate, equalling the anthers. —Cat. Cubens. 174. M. Cwiense, Griseb. 

 Fl. W. Ind. 417, not Decaisne. M. Schlechtendalii, Chapm. Fl. 366, not Decaisne. — Keys of 

 Florida, Blodgett. (Bahamas.) 



13. MELINIA, Decaisne. (From fir/Xivog, yellowish, the color of the small 

 flowers.) — Two or three extra-tropical S. American species, which have cordate 

 leaves and slender peduncles ; to which is appended the following, doubtfully, for 

 its habit is that of Metastelma. 



M. angustif olia, Gray. Nearly glabrous : stems filiform, branching from a ligneous base, 

 a foot or two long, spreading, more or less twining: leaves opposite, narrowly linear (9 to 

 20 lines long, a line or less wide), acute, distinctly petioled : peduncles 1-2-flowered, iiardly 

 longer than the flowers : calyx-segments lanceolate-acuminate, nearly equalling the caitr- 

 panulate 5-parted corolla : scales of the crown spatulate-oblong, nearly plane, half the 



