504. MR. J. MIERS ON THE CONANTHERE. 
The type of this species is now in the Herbarium of the British Museum: the under- 
ground portion of the stem, 1i inch long, is covered by a membranous sheath, above 
which the whole plant is only 3 inches high: the stem is clothed at its base by three 
nearly radical leaves, which are 24 inches long and 1} line broad: the lower branch of 
the panicle, nearly an inch long, has a leaf-like bract at its base 9 lines long. These bracts 
grow gradually smaller and more subulate upwards, as the branches become shorter; 
the pedicels are 2 lines, the bracteoles 24 lines long: the flowers are much smaller than 
in the preceding species, the cylindrical tube being 2 lines long, $ line in diameter; the 
reflected segments of the border are 5 lines long. The immature capsule is 3 lines 
in diameter. 
Genus TECOPHILEA. 
As no mention is made by Colla, Póppig, or Dr. Leybóld of the peculiar tortion of two 
of the interior segments of the perianth, which I found invariably occurring in the species 
they described, we may infer that they did not examine the flower in a living state : it was 
this character which suggested to me the name of Distrepta. In the drawing by Dr. 
Leybóld of his new and pretty species from the lofty Cordillera of Chile, there is no indi- 
eation of this character; nor is there in Póppig's plate, which is far from a correct repre- 
sentation of the typical species. 
TECOPHILEA, Colla (1836). Distrepta, nob. (1825). Püppigia, Kunze (1828), non Bert. nec Presl. Phy- 
ganthus, Pópp. (1838).— Perianthium petaloideum, anguste tubulosum, profunde 6-partitum ; seg- 
mentis tubo 2-3-plo longioribus, spathulato-oblongis, zestivatione 2-serialiter imbricatis ; 3 exterioribus 
extus sub apicem calcari reflexo mucronatis; 3 interioribus paulo latioribus inermibus, imo ad mar- 
gines ciliatis, quorum 2 anterioribus sepe invicem resupinato-tortis ; cunctis reflexis. Stamina 6, 
medio tubi inserta, segmentis opposita, quorum 3 anteriora fertilia, 3 posteriora sterilia et paulo 
longiora: fertilium filamenta brevia, sursum latiora, ex annulo fere obsoleto summo tubi orta; 
anthere oblongo-cylindricz, filamentis equilongz et his pone calcar apicifixe, 4-sulcate, 2-locu- 
lares, loculis collateralibus imo in calcar longiusculum confluentibus, apice rima obliqua fisse, et 
hinc 2-valvatim dehiscentes, valvula antica brevi, erecta, postica operculiformi-cucullata: sterilium 
filamenta fertilium plusquam 2-plo longiora, linearia, complanata, purpurea; anthere effete, albidze, 
brevissime, acuminate, 2-marsupiatze, locellis vacuis antrorsum aperte. Ovarium subsuperum, pro 
tertia parte perianthio inclusum, 3-gonum, apice conicum, 3-loculare; ovula plurima in quoque 
loculo ad axem centralem in seriebus collateraliter affixa, horizontalia; stylus filiformis, stamina vix 
excedens; stigma minimum, obsolete 3-denticulatum. Capsula cylindrica, utrinque acuta, 3-gona, 
رمتعا لد‎ angulis carinatis, infra apicem per carinas loculicido-trivalvis, valvis medio septiferis. 
Semina plurima, parva, ovata, funiculo brevi e strophiolo apicali horizontaliter appensa; testa crassi- 
uscula, brunnea, scrobiculato-rugosa, raphe longitudinali notata; tegmen membranaceum, basi 
chalaza obscura instructum : embryo teres in albumine corneo 2-plo longiore hilum versus inclusus, 
radicula ad strophiolum spectante.—Herbæ Chilenses, tuberoso-bulbose ; folia pauca, radicalia, iino 
vaginantia, vaginis persistentibus, lineari-lanceolata, acuminata, canaliculata; caulis vel scapus erectus, 
tenuis, folio brevior, 1-2-3-florus, vel ramis paucis 1-2-floris obsolete paniculatus; pedicelli imo brac- 
teolati; flores subcernui, crocei, pallide cerulei vel albescentes. 
1. TECOPHILEA VIOLXFLORA, Bert. MSS. ; Colla, Mem. Torin. 39. p. 19, tab. 55; Herbert, 
Amaryl. tab. 24. Distrepta vaginata, nob., Trav. ii. 529.  Póppigia Chilensis, Kze. 
