542 Mr. MiERs on some new Brazilian Plants 



fibrous ; the stem simple in every specimen I met with, and scarcely exceed- 

 ing four inches in height. The leaves are also bracteiform, erect, but not so 

 much adpressed. The umbel consists of six to nine pedicellated flowers ; it 

 can hardly be said to be forked, as the pedicels all possess nearly one common 

 origin ; these are somewhat erect and spreading, furnished at their base with 

 bractes somewhat larger than the stem-leaves ; the flowers are smaller, of rather 

 a deep lilac or rose colour. The stem and leaves are likewise slightly tinged 

 with a rosy hue. 



I met with this species in February 1839, only in one spot, in a dense wood 

 on the Organ Mountains, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, growing in loose 

 fibrous mould; but it was at that time not sufficiently advanced to ascertain 

 the dehiscence of the capsule or form of the seed. 



3. D. costata, caule erecto simplici, floribus erectis, cymS, bibracteata, pedicel- 



lis ebracteatis, capsula evalvi 6-costata apice dehiscenti. 



This plant was found on the Corcovado Mountain near Rio de Janeiro, 

 growing near the same spot with D. orobanchioides and Cymbocarpa. It is 

 scarcely more than three inches high, 6 — 7-flowered, with an aspect very 

 similar to the last species, but the umbel is rather more forked, it has fewer 

 bractes, the leaves on the stem are smaller, the flowers are not so large and 

 are nearly white, and there are six distinct rounded striee or ribs upon the 

 pedicel and capsule. The capsule does not separate into valves, but its free 

 conical sumnjit bursts into three equal segments crowned by portions of the 

 persistent style, which still remains united at its apex. 



I am indebted to George Bentham, Esq. for a specimen of another very 

 distinct species of Dictyostega lately collected by Mr. Schomburgk in British 

 Guiana. The inflorescence is in a double raceme of few flowers ; the peri- 

 anthium is proportionally broader and shorter, not so much contracted at 

 the middle, and the segments are more obtuse : it is marked by six ribs, 

 and the capsule, as in the last-mentioned species, opens only at the apex. 

 There is a bracte to each flower, not placed at the base of the pedicel, but 

 opposite to it. 



4. X). Schomburgkii, caule erecto subsimplici, racemis geminis paucifloris, 



