ON SOUTH- AMERICAN APOOYNACE^ . 21 



fimbriatim 10-lobam incrassato ; stigmatibus 2, acutisj terminalibus. In Venezuela : v. s. in herb. 

 Mus. Brit. Valle la Cura (Moritz 1158). 



The axils of the branchlets are ^ in. apart ; the leaves are 5^-6 in. long, l^lf in. 

 broad, on a petiole ^ in. long : the peduncle of the raceme is shorter than the petiole, 

 3-4-flowered ; the pedicels 5 lines long ; the sepals 2 lines long ; the tube of the coroUa 

 is 10 lines long, its segments 5 lines long, 2^ lines broad. 



The particulars of the floral structure of this plant, and a copious analysis of the fruit 

 and seed of the Linnean species, are given in Plate IV. A. 



Miiller, in Linn. xxx. 392, describes another new species from Paraguay (Weddell 

 3112), under the name of Thevetia cornuta. 



ASPIDOSPEUMA. 



This genus, established by Martins in 1824, consists of numerous species,. 19 of which 

 were enumerated by Prof. DeCandoUe in 1854, and 30 others, soon after, described by 

 Dr. Miiller. They are generally trees of considerable size, yielding valuable hard white 

 woods, known in Brazil as " marfim" (ivory), " peroba," and " piquia;" they have generally 

 alternate or crowded leaves, and an inflorescence of extremely small flowers, in the struc- 

 ture of which there is nothing that calls for remark, except that the aestivation was 

 stated by DeCandoUe, in error, to be of dextrorse convolution, instead of sinistrorse as 

 more correctly shown by Miiller, and that the disk, small, annular, and adhering to the 

 ovaries, is sometimes evanescent. The structure of the fruit and seeds is very peculiar, 

 and has hardly been correctly described, I have added here an analytical drawing of 

 that of A. Gomezianum, A. DO., which I gathered and examined in 1835, in Rio de 

 Janeiro, which will serve as an illustration of the carpological features of the genus. 



The fruit, normally, should consist of 2 follicles ; but 1 do not remember an instance 

 wbere both are perfected ; and it is certain that generally one is abortive. In 

 A. Gomezianum this follicle, about 2 in. long, is of an obovoid form, much compressed, 

 somewhat convex on both faces, the pericarp, being hard, almost ligneous, much rounder 

 along the ventral edge, in the line of which the dehiscence takes place by a suture which 

 occupies f of the whole periphery ; and on the external faces a curved ridge is seen 

 extending from one end of the suture to the other : hence it happens that, as the suture 

 gapes open, the pericarp assumes the form of 2 valves, remaining united along the dorsal 

 edge, when within each valve are seen 4 seeds (8 in all) extremely flat, closely applied to 

 each other, of an oval form, filling the internal cavity, each having a flattened oval 

 embryoniferous scutcheon surrounded by a broad membranaceous wing ; in the centre, 

 on one side of this scutcheon, is seen a small hilum, attached to one end of a long 

 slender f unicle, the other end of which emanates from the inner margin of the sviture at 

 the summit, and each seed is thus suspended ; but as the hilum is invariably placed on 

 the side furthest from its corresponding valve, the funicles of the 4th and 5th seeds touch 

 one another, and all have an aspect towards the axis : the scutcheon, which is thinly 

 chartaceous and indehiscent, is filled by a free, compressed body of thin pergamineous 

 texture, which appears to me a thin albumen, as it bears no indication of a ohalaza, which 



