MR. J. MIERS ON THE HIPPOCRATEACEA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 335 
longer cited that of Linnzeus as a synonym. Convinced of the truth of this inference, 
have sought among the several plants from the Spanish main and the West Indies, and 
have found only one really twining species, which I have adopted as the type, since it 
accords well with Linnzus’s short definition. De Candolle, by a strange oversight, 
entirely suppressed the Linnæan type in his * Prodromus,” in favour of H. ovata, Lam., a 
very different plant, confounding it with the two others above mentioned, figured by 
Plumier and Jacquin. Grisebach, in his * West-Indian Flora,' adopted the same mistake. 
All the specimens cited conform with the diagnosis I have given, especially that from 
Cartagena, which, Watts says, is there known by the vernacular name of Matavira (sig- 
nifying a twining branch): the branchlets are slender, scarcely more than half a line 
thick; the leaves are 2-23 in. long, 14-14 in. broad, on a petiole 3-4 lines long: the 
axillary panicles are about 13 in. long including a peduncle of 9-12 lines ; sometimes, how- 
ever, by the decadence of the last pair of leaves, the inflorescence assumes a more ex- 
panded and more compound appearance by the union of several panicles into one much 
larger corymb : the expanded flower measures 3 lines. Each capsule is 20 lines long, 9 
lines broad, the 3 resulting from a single flower are pendent, with 4 parallel seeds in each : 
the valves fall away when the fruit is ripe, the 12 seeds, with their large membranaceous 
wings, remaining suspended from the pedicel, upon their short persistent funieles, and 
thus flutter in bunches by force of the wind: they are 16 lines long, 5 lines broad, their 
apical embryoniferous cellule being 5 lines long. 
2. HIPPOCRATEA SCANDENS, Jacq. (non Plum.), Enum. p. 12 (1760); Stirp. Amer. p. 9, 
tab. 9 (1780), idem, edit. 8vo; p. 10 (1788); Griseb. (in parte) Brit. W. Ind. 148: 
Hippocratea obcordata, Lam. (non Vahl) Illustr. i. p. 100; Icon. tab. 28. fig. 1; 
Poir. Dict. Suppl. i. 606; H., B., K. v. 137; DC. Prodr. i. 56: Bejuco pendulus, 
Loefl. Itin. 314 (1758): scandens, ramis ramulisque tenuibus, teretibus, striolatis, 
obsolete lenticellatis, opacis, pruinosis, patentissime divaricatis: foliis ovato-ellipticis, 
imo rotundiuseulis vel obtusis, apicem versus angustioribus, in acumen breve obtu- 
sulum repente constrictis, leviter crenato-serratis, pallide viridibus, concoloribus, aut 
junioribus rufescentibus, glaberrimis, submembranaceis, supra nervis tenuissimis 
venisque creberrime reticulatis vix conspicuis, subtus opacis, nervis prominulis; 
petiolo profunde canaliculato, rufescente, limbo 12-plo breviore; stipulis lineari- 
acutis, deciduis: paniculis axillaribus, corymbosis, vel in ramulis alaribus brevis- 
simis subterminalibus, folio brevioribus, fructiferis longioribus, fusce rubiginoso- 
tomentosis, ramis valde divaricatis, angulatis, compressis, dichotome divisis, cum 
ramulis 2 brevissimis paucifloris in dichotomiis; bracteolis acutis divaricatis; floribus 
tomentosis; petalis intus barbatis; staminibus erectiusculis, tomentellis ; stylo his 
æquilongo ; disco alto, conice cylindrico, tomentoso. Capsulis 3, euneato-oblongis, 
compressissimis, cordato-retusis, loculis 5—6-spermis, valvis caducis, seminibus mag- 
nopere samaroideis, persistentibus. In Guiana, Nova Granada et Peru: v. s. in hb. 
Mus. Brit. Peru (Pavon); in hb. Hook. Guiana ad Massarouni (Appun. 308). 
The above specimens agree well with the drawing and description of Jacquin’s plant, 
which is also commonly found in Cartagena. Jacquin’s specific name (1760) claims a 
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