82 ON SOIITH-AMEEICAN APOCTNACILS. 



nearly as long, obtusely linear, oblong erect, simply convoluted in aestiva- 

 tion, in the form of a spire; branches fistulous; leaves large, rigid, with a 

 peculiar petiole Rhiffospira. 



e. Disk of 5 free erect emarginated lobes partly adhering by their margins. 



9. Calyx of 5 large, oblong, membranaceous sepals, having within at their base a 



corona of many series of scales ; corolla large, with a broad funnel-shaped 



tube; stamens inserted in the middle of the tube Stemmadenia. 



f. Disk of 5 very small free lobes. 



10. Tube of corolla cylindrical, stoutish, slightly constricted below the middle, 



segments spathulately oblong, nearly as long as the tube, quite deflected, half 

 introflected in aestivation ; follicles subglobose, stipitated, and more or less 

 retrorsely apiculated , Merizadenia. 



B. Estivation of coroUa dextrorse. 



g. Disk none, or subobsolete ; leaves opposite. 



11. Tube of corolla slender, cylindrical, a little swollen below the constricted 



mouth, segments oblong, gibbous, elongated, with the aestivation of Bona- 



fousia ; stamens included in the swollen portion of the tube . . ^ . . Anartia. 



h. Disk pilose, concealing the ovaries ; leaves alternate. 



12. Tube of corolla cylindrical, swollen below the mouth ; stamens inserted in 



the middle of the tube ; follicles oblong, pointed, spreading, smooth, sub- 



indehiscent ' Geissospermum. 



To this tribe may be referred the following genera belonging to the Old "World : — 

 Fiptolcena, A. DC. Prodr. viii. p. 3B7, S. Africa. 

 Orchipeda, „ „ p. 358, Java. 



Voacanga, „ „ p. 357, Madagascar. 



Urceola, „ „ p. 358, Sumatra. 



Boupelia, Hook. Niger Mora, p. MQ, Africa. 



Peschieea. 



This valid genus, established by Prof. De CandoUe in 1844, was reduced, in 1860, to a 

 mere section of Taberncemontcma by Dr. Miiller, who did not rightly observe its chief 

 and constant peculiarities. It is readily distinguished from Taherncemontana, Taberna, 

 and Bonafousia by the slender tube of the corolla, always broader at its base, and there 

 staminigerous, by the absence of a disk, by its ovaries free to their base, by its short 

 style, and especially by its muricated or granular follicles. There is another peculiarity 

 first noticed by me in 1836, when I was fortunately able to examine the fruit in a living 

 state: the densely echinated follicle bursts along the convex ventral suture, gaping 

 widely to allow the escape of its several seeds, which fall out suspended from the sutural 

 placentae by a thick, soft, coloured funicle of more than double their length, which at its 

 lower end is attached to the hilum of the seed, placed in the middle of its deeply 

 channelled ventral face, by which means the seeds remain suspended in the air. This 



