49 



AI am OS, August 1872. 

 Mr. Märten s gave me your message about jumping seeds, 

 peculiar to this place. I have been sending regularly to watch 

 the time for gathering them, but this year tliey are so back- 

 ward that I am inclined to believe that those gathered so 

 abuudantiy last year were the growth of the previous season. 



— In about a month more they should be ripe, and I will do 

 the best I can to send you a lot of them. 



1 now send you a sample of the unripe seeds, and leaves 

 and boughs, which may help to study the nature of the plant. 



— It is a bush that grows from 6 to 8 feet in height on the 

 eastern slope of the Alamos mountain at an elevation of about 

 500 feet above the level of the town and is considered a great 

 curiosity all over Mexico even; each pod contains three triangulär 

 seeds, but how the worm gets inside to make them Jump is 

 a mystery etc. 



Herr Prof. Müller-Argoviensis beschreibt die Pflanze, wie folgt: 



Sel)astiania? Pavoiiiaiia Müll. Arg. in DC. Prodr., XV, 2, 

 p. 1189. Synon. Gymnanthes? Pavoniana Müll. Arg. in 

 Linnaea V.32. p. 106. Foliis altemis modice petiolatis, stipulis lineari- 

 lanceolatis margine lato scarioso fusco membranaceo sublacero 

 cinctis, limbo foliorum ovato-lanceolato membranaceo basi haud glan- 

 duligero, costis secundariis utroque latere circ. 6 — 8; spicis termi- 

 naKbus basi femineis caeterum masculis, bracteis fem. 1-floris, masculis 

 3 — 2-floris, Omnibus abbreviato-ovatis subtruncatis lacero-denticulatis 

 incomplete cupuliformibus basi utrinque glandula plicato - rugosa 

 auctis; calycis fem. sessilis laciniis ovatis concavis ovario adpressis 

 apiculatis denticulatis intus basi non glanduligeris , sepalis florum 

 masc. e basi brevi triangulari longe setaceo-acuminatis paucilacinu- 

 latis V. integris; capsulis leviter tricarinatis. 



Frutex 6 — 8-pedalis (ex not. collectoris). Rami graciles, sub- 

 diflhise ramulosi, cum Omnibus reliquis partibus glabri, ultimi saepe 

 vix 2 — 3 cm longi et oligophylli. Stipula vix 1 mm longa. Petioli 

 circ. 5 — 8 mm longi, graciles. Limbus foliorum 3 — 8 cm longus, 

 1^/4 — 31/.2 cm latus, basi obtusus, apice acuminatus v. breviter cus- 

 pidatus, margine distanter et minute serrulatus, ima basi et hinc 

 inde in petiolo minutissime subulato-glanduliger. Spica a foliis summis 

 vulgo longiuscule superata, circ. 3 — 5^/2 cm longa, densiflora^ 

 flores tamen non imbricati, masculi intra bracteas brevissime pedicellati. 

 Bracteae 1 mm longae v. paullo longiores. Calyx fem. l^g ^^ longus, 

 superne ovario arcte adpressus, masculus florum lateralium cujusvis 

 bractea saepe omnino obsoletus. Ovarium globoso-ellipsoideum,glabrum; 

 styli liberi, arcte revoluti. Capsula e fragmentis visis circ. 11 — 13 mm 

 longa, latior quam longa; valvae coccorum dorso 5 — 5V2 "^^ latae, 

 tenues at rigidae, circ. 11 — 12 mm longae. — Semina ignota. 



(In der Biologia centrali-americana, Bd. III, 1882 — 86, — 

 Autor: W. B. Hemsley — , ist die Pflanze nicht aufgeführt, obwohl 

 Müller-Argoviensis bereits in De Candolle's Prodromus Mexiko als 

 Heimatland angiebt — Fr. B.) — 



Februar 1891. XII, 4 



