MEXISFEBMACEJS. 



10 



because all their essential organs are not yet known, this order was 

 established in 1788 by A.-L. de Jussieu, in his Genera Plantarum} It 

 included Leceba and Epibaterium Forsk., which are not distinct genera, 

 Cissampelos of Linnaeus and Abuta of Barrere and Aublet. 2 This 



erect, linear-terete or subcompressed, thickened 

 towards apes, tapering antheriferous at very top ; 

 anthers globose didymous; cells sublateral rimose. 

 Female flower : perianth of male. Stamens 0. 

 Carpels 3, free ; ovules 2, superposed descending 

 on ventral angle, one subabortive; style rather 

 thick, at apex reflexed, papillose, stigmatose on 

 inner side. A shrub (habit of Pleogyne) ; leaves 

 alternate ovate ; flowers in short gloinerules along 

 rachis of axillary spikes. (Species 1, Australian : 

 A. decnmbens Bexth.) 



2. Antitaxis Miees, in Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 



2, vii. 44. — " Perianth-leaves decussate ; petals 2. 

 Stamens 2 in male flower." A doubtful Euphor- 

 biad according to B. H„ Gen., 33 ; but not so 

 according to Muell. aeg., Prodr., xv. 1258. 

 (Species 3, thereof 1 doubtful from Timor : A. 1 

 longifolia Miees.) 



3. Clambus Miees, in Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 



3, xviii. 16.— B. H., Gen., 962, n. 21. — Appa- 

 rently a male specimen of some Mexican Phyl- 

 lanthus, allied to P. laxijlorus Benth. and P. 

 glaucescens H. B. K. 



4. Disciphania EiCHl.., in Mart. Fl. Bras., 

 Menisp., 168, t. 36.— B. H., Gen., 960, n. 6 b?. — 

 " Sepals 6, subequal, 2-seriate. Petals 6, much 

 smaller, nearly equal to one another in length, 

 fleshy depressed, united into a 6-gonal-subor- 

 bicular disk. Stamens 3, very short, free ; an- 

 thers subsessile; connective thick, cells sub- 

 globose discrete, dehiscing by an introrsc vertical 

 lid. Interior rudiment (of inner series of sta- 

 mens or of gynseceum ?) always present, nodular. 

 Female flower and fruit. . . . ? — A shaggy 

 villous climber ; leaves broad cordate, 3-lobed ; 

 spikes elongated." — (Species 1: D. lobata Eichl., 

 which recalling Jateorhiza in habit, Anomo- 

 spermum in its petals, is however of very uncer- 

 tain position, owing to our ignorance of the 

 fruit.) 



5. Penianthus Miees., in Ann. Nat. Hist., 

 ser. 3, xiii. 124.— B. H., Gen., 959.— Oliv., Fl. 

 Trop. Afr., i. 50. — Male flowers ? . . . . Female 

 flower : calyx 6-leaved ; sepals 2-seriate, imbri- 

 cate. Petals 0. Stamens 6, free ; anthers effete. 

 Carpels 3 ; ovules 2, unequal descending ; micro- 

 pyle superior extrorse ; style finally dilated into 

 a ciliate-laciniate horizontal blade. A glabrous 

 shrub; leaves lanceolate acuminate subcoriaceous; 

 flowers in small axillary or supra-axillary pedun- 

 culate umbels. (Species 1, from Western Tropical 

 Africa : P. longifolius Miees.) 



6. Pselium Loub., Fl. Cockinch., 621. — This 

 genus, distinct according to Miees, in Ann. Nat. 

 Hist., ser. 3, 371, is in part the same as Peri- 



campylns according to B. H., Gen., 37, n. 17 

 (a very doubtful genus). 



7. Quinio cocculoides Schltl., in Linn&a, 

 xxvi. 732 (flowers 5-merous) ?? (East Indies). 



8. Rhigiocarya Miees, in Ann. Nat. Hist., 

 ser. 3, xiv. 100.— Oliv., Fl. Trop. Afr., i. 47. — 

 The genus is summed up by B. H. {Gen., 960), 

 in these words : " The genus is made from a 

 fragment collected by Barter in Tropical Africa, 

 and preserved in the Hookerian Herbarium. It 

 consists of a leaf, a piece of the inflorescence, 

 and a few drupes of some Menispermad (appa- 

 rently Chasmantkera nervosa Miees) with two 

 leaves and a twig of a totally different plant, 

 perhaps a species of Smilax." (Species 1 : 

 B. racemiftora Miees). 



9. Somphoxylon Eichl., in Mart. Fl. Bras., 

 Menisp., 205, t. 37.— B. H., Gen., 959. — 

 "Sepals 6, 2-seriate; outer smaller, united at 

 base. Petals 6, smaller than sepals, outer con- 

 cave, united at edges; inner nearly flat. Stamens 

 3, high-united ; anther cells discrete, opening by 

 a vertical cleft. — Quite glabrous. Leaves mem- 

 branous penniveined. Flowers minute along 

 twigs of a full fascicled panicle." (Species 1 : 

 S. Wullschla^gelii Eichl.) 



10. Syrrhonema Miees, in Ann. Nat. Hist., 

 ser. 3, xiii. 124.— B. H., Gen., 959.— Oliv., Fl. 

 Trap. Afr., i. 50. — Male flower : sepals 9-12 ; 

 3-6 outermost smaller ; inner ones gradually 

 larger. Petals 0. Stamens 3, more rarely 4—6, 

 connate into a tubular column widening out 

 above ; anthers included within apex of tube, 

 4-locellate introrse. Female flower. . . . ? — A 

 tomentose pubescent climber; leaves broadly 

 cordate; flowers pedicellate fascicledal nodes. 

 (Species 1, from the Island of Fernando Po : S. 



fasciculatum MlEES.) 



11. Tripodandra H. Bn., in Adansonia, ix. 

 317, not. 1. — Male flower : sepals 6, subequal. 

 Petals 6, shorter, unequal, rather fleshy, concave 

 inside. Stamens 3, filaments connate at base 

 into a slender column 3-fid, nearly halfway down ; 

 lobes finally reflexed, at apex passing into a linear 

 fuseate connective ; cells 2, lateral adnate, 2- 

 lobed, extrorse vertically rimose. Female flower 



and fruit ? — A climber, with all parts 



hirsute- tomentose; leaves petiolate ellipsoidal; 

 male flowers crowded on much-branched slender 

 axillary racemes. (Species 1, from Madagascar : 

 T. Thouarsiana H. Bn.) 



1 284, Orel. XVII. Menisperma. Adanson 

 (Fam. des PL, ii. 364) had placed Menispermum 

 in his family of the Anones. 



2 1741 and 1775. 



C 2 



