Mr. J. Miers on the genus Saracba. 451 



longis, V. ovato-lanceolatis, pilosulis, margine ciliatis, acutis, 

 basi obtusis, petiolatis, superioribus floriferis geminis ; flori- 

 bus tetrameris, umbellatis, umbellis fere sessilibus, pedicellis 

 divaricates, petiolo unciali sequilongis, calyceque brevi 4-den- 

 tato glabris, corolla calyce 2-plo majore, tubo urceolato imo 

 coarctato, tuberculis 4 instructo, limbo 4-lobo, rotato, lobis 

 lanceolatis, staminibus 4, tuberculis alternis, filamentis brevi- 

 bus, imo dilatatis, pilosis, antheris ovalibus, conniventibus. — 

 America meridionalis. 



This plant, known only as having been cultivated in the Bo- 

 tanic Garden of Kew, is described by L'Heritier and Aiton as 

 above-quoted, but the dried specimens preserved by these bota- 

 nists do not appear in the Banksian herbarium. The stem is said 

 to be a foot high, covered with dark red pubescence ; the leaves 

 are 3 inches long, upon a petiole nearly an inch in length, and 

 almost glabrous ; the umbels are nearly as long as the petioles, 

 the pedicels being scarcely half an inch long ; the calyx is short 

 and glabrous ; the corolla of a pale yellow colour ; the tube is 

 \^ line in diameter, and the lobes 3 lines long. The fruit is a 2- 

 locular berry, with numerous seeds attached to an adnate placenta 

 projecting from each side of the dissepiment. The characters of 

 this plant will thus be seen to be all strictly in accordance with 

 the genus Saracha, as has been noticed on a previous occasion 

 when treating of the genus Witheringia [ante, p. 143), and the 

 reasoning upon which this conclusion is based will be found 

 strengthened by a comparison of L'Heritier's figure of his Withe- 

 ringia solanacea with that of the preceding species S. glandulosa, 

 to which I have just made reference. 



23. Saracha diffusa (n. sp.) ; — caule angulato-striato, dichotome 

 diffuso, subglabro vel parce puberulo ; foliis late ovatis, acutis, 

 basi obtusiusculis, repente in petiolum attenuatis, superioribus 

 geminatis, utrinque pilis articulatis pubescentibus ; floribus 

 umbellatis, pedicellis 2-6, pedunculo elongato folio sequilongo 

 tertio brevioribus, omnibus pilosis ; calyce acutilobo, hirsute ; 

 corolla rotata, angulato-5-loba, utrinque glabra, staminibus 

 coroUse dimidio brevioribus; bacca pisiformi, calyce rotate 

 aucto suffulta. — Mexico, v. in herb. Hook. (Oaxaca, Galeotti, 

 no. 1169.) 



In this plant the internodes are very distant, and the leaves, 

 shorter than the peduncle, are 1^ inch long by 1^ inch broad, 

 upon a petiole of 5 lines in length ; the peduncle is 2 to 2^ inches 

 long, the pedicels | inch in length. 



29* 



