Prof. Don's Monograph of Streptopus, Bi^c. 531 



par^rn breviora. Bacca rubra? caeteris paull6 major: loculis 10 — 12- 

 spermis. Simina obovata longitudinaliter sulcata, parfitn curvula, hinc 

 convexa, inde biangulata, chalaza orbiculata depress^ fusca apice in- 

 structa. 



This interesting and hitherto little-known species is a native of Gosaingthan 

 and Kamaon in the Himalaya mountains, where it was gathered by Dr. Wal- 

 lich's collectors, and was first described by me in the Prodromus Florae 

 Nepalensis. The flowers are considerably larger, and more abundant, and 

 the plant is altogether more showy than the amplexifolius, from which its 

 straight naked peduncles, blunt sepals and anthers, much longer stigmata, 

 and more numerous seeds will readily distinguish it. 



PROSARTES. 



Streptopi sp. Mich. 



Perianthium 6-phy\\[im, petaloideum, campanulatum, aequale, deciduum : /b- 

 liolis basi foveolatis v. saccatis. Stamina 6, basi sepalorum adnata, 

 simulque decidua. Antheroe erectse, innatse, obtusae, biloculares, rim& 

 duplici marginal! longitudinaliter dehiscentes. Ovarium liberum, 3-locu- 

 lare : loculis biovulatis : ovulis obovatis, a placentae apice pendulis I 

 Stigmata 3, brevissima, recurvata. Pericarpium baccatum, 3-loculare. 

 Semina solitaria v. rariiis bina. 



Herbae (Amer. bor.) perennes, pube ramosd vestitce, rhizomate diviso multi- 

 cipite. Caules teretiusculi. Folia sessilia, dilatata. Inflorescentia ter- 

 m,inalis, umhellata. Bacca rubra. • 



This very natural genus, as I have already stated, forms the transition from 

 the Smilacece to the Melanthacece, and possesses several characters in com- 

 mon with Streptopus and Disporum. From the former genus it is essentially 

 distinguished by its much more lengthened filaments, binary pendulous ovula. 

 and terminal umbellate inflorescence, — characters in which it agrees with 

 Disporum ; but it differs from this last in its innate anthers, nearly concrete 

 styles, and pendulous seeds. 



The genus is remarkable for its forked pubescence ; the hairs are furnished 

 with one, rarely with two short branches, which are continuous with the cells 



VOL. xviii. 4 A 



