410 MR. J. MIERS ON THE HIPPOCRATEACEA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 
oret repetitim dichotome ramosis, ramulis superioribus cum altero uni- plurifloro 
in diehotomiis, ramis tenuibus, profunde striolatis; bracteolis parvis, oppositis, 
acutis, ciliato-fimbriatis; floribus mediocribus, cymoso-capitatis, breviter pedicel- 
latis; sepalis ovatis, crassis, rugulosis, margine pectinato-fimbriatis ; petalis duplo 
longioribus, submembranaceis, medio crassioribus, oblongis, flavidis, sinuato-den- 
ticulatis, subexpansis; disco brevi, campaniformi tubuloso, crassiusculo, undulato- 
plicato; ovario disco triplo longiore, trigonoideo, depresse conico, triloculari, cum 
ovulo solitario in quoque loculo suspenso; stylo brevi, crassiusculo; stigmate albido, 
vix 3-dentato. In Brasilia: v. s. in herb. meo, prov. Rio Janeiro, ad Iguassu (filio 
meo lecta). 
This appears to be a shrub, with scandent, rather stout branchlets, the axils being 
14-1 in. apart; the leaves are 34-5 in. long, 1j-2i in. broad, on a petiole 3—4 lines 
long; the panicles are 14 in. long, the peduncle 4-5 lines, the primary branches 4 lines 
long, the rest diminishing upwards; the flower expanded is 2 lines in diameter. 
13. SICYOMORPHA. 
This genus is proposed for a small group of plants from New Granada and Peru, its 
type being the Salacia pruinosa of Dr. Seemann, and is so named from the resemblance 
of the fruit, in its external form, to a young cucumber. All the species have a scandent 
habit, with large oblong opposite leaves, and a very short axillary panicular inflorescence, 
with very small flowers, which have five sepals, five petals of double or treble their size, 
both generally with pectinately fimbriated margins; three stamens inserted within the 
disk, with bilobed anthers as in Sarcocampsa; a short tubular fleshy disk; a 3-celled 
ovary, having a single suspended ovule in each cell. Thus far there is a great resem- 
blanee in the structure of the two genera, but there is a great difference in the develop- 
ment of the fruit; it is in like manner edible, but is of a much larger size, of a long 
cylindrical shape, slightly trigonoid, with a thick indehiscent pericarp, having a smooth 
surface. Dr. Seemann does not say whether the edible portion is the pericarp or the 
enclosed seed ; his specimen shows only a single fruit, evidently in an immature state: 
thus dried, the pericarp appears in the transverse section to consist of a coriaceous epi- 
carp, the mesocarp presenting a number of transverse subcorneous cells, while the endo- 
carp is thinner and lined with longitudinal thick cords; by the abortion of two of its 
cells it is unilocular, and contains a single seed of a cylindrical shape, which, according 
to Dr. Seemann, is covered with a membranaceous testa: in this specimen it is far too 
imperfect to afford any evidence of its structure. 
SICYOMORPHA, nob. 
Salacia, Seem. (non Linn). 
Sepala 5, parva, subrotundata, fusco-viridia, crassiuscula, margine pectinatim fimbriata. Petala 5, sepalis 
angustiora ct duplo longiora oblonga, vel lineari-oblonga, crassiuscula, margine late membranacea, 
imo integra, apice laciniatim fimbriata et rotundata, curvatim reflexa. Discus breviter tubulosus, 
carnosulus, margine sinuato. Stamina 3, intra discum inserta; filamenta anguste linearia, disco 
2-3-plo longiora, erecta, vel paululo divergentia; anthere parvæ, didymæ, lobis subglobosis, dorso 
