538 Mr. MiERS ou some neiv Brazilian Plants 



Dr. Blume makes no mention of petals in his generic character ; but as 

 they certainly exist in the Indian species, I have included a notice of them in 

 a parenthesis. This genus will be seen to differ but little from Bnrniannia, 

 except in the separation of the dissepiments from the pericarpium, which is 

 hence enabled to split from wing to wing, transversely upon each face, pre- 

 senting three widely-gaping a])ertures ; and as the dissepiments become almost 

 wholly contracted upon the central column, there results a clear passage across 

 the capsule from one opening to the other : hence the meaning of the term 

 " capsula fenestrata." From what I have elsewhere shown relative to the 

 structure of the walls of the capsule in Burmanniaceous plants, it will be easy 

 to conceive the origin of this peculiar kind of dehiscence. In like manner as 

 in Barniannia. owing to the complete inflection of the margins of the carpels 

 into one central axis, the placentœ are thrown into a position alternating with 

 their normal one, and are consequently placed upon the axile line in the inner 

 angle of the cells, opposite to the wings of the perianth, and of course opposite 

 to the sepals. This explains the meaning of Dr. Blume's expression, " recep- 

 tacula angulis perianthii opposita, semibifida," a definition which exactly applies 

 to Burmannia also. 



Of the Brazilian plants I am about to describe, the first species was found 

 by me in the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro in April 1837, 'Hitl then named 

 Dicti/ostega orohanchioides ; not long after M'hich Mr. Gardner sent specimens 

 to England in the dried state, gathered from the same spot. I had good oppor- 

 tunities of examining this in a living state, and of making drawings and details 

 of it as w'ell as of the other species which were subsequently found. 



1. DiCTYOSTEGA. 



Char. Diff'. Perianfliinm tubulosum, ovario adnatum, supernè liberum : li?nbo 

 6-fido : laciniis tribus alternis minoribus. Statnina 3, filamentis brevissi- 

 mis, antheraruin loculis disjunctis transversim dehiscentibus. Sfi/las sim- 

 plex. Stigmata 3. Capsula 1-locularis, sub-3-valvis, polysperma, apice 

 dehiscens : valvnlis medio placentiferis. Semina minuta, scobiformia, 

 testa laxa, reticulata, diaphanâ, nucleo quintuplo longiore. 



Char. Nat. Perianthium monophyllum, tubulosuui, petaloideum, persistens, 

 infernè ovario adnatum : tuba brevi, medio constricto : Umbo 6-diviso ; 



