78 ON SOUTH-AMEEIOAN APOCnSTACE^. 



Mbrizadbnia *. 



This genus is proposed for a few South-Ainerican. plants uniform in their characters, 

 the type of which is the Tabemasmontana Sananho of the ' Mora Peruviana.' They are 

 taU trees, with an erect trunk, a branching head with large leaves, aU yielding an 

 abundant milky juice. 



Merizadenia, Dob. : Calyx parvus. S^ala 5, ovata, erecta, imbricata, singulatim squamula 2-deiitata 

 intus munita. C<yrolla anguste infundibuliformis ; tubus cylindricus, supra medium paullo ventri- 

 cosus, et hinc spiraliter 5-nervosa; segmenta spatbulato-oblonga, obtusa, obliqua, tubi fere longi- 

 tudine, latere dextro mucronulata et hinc sub aestivationem subito introplicata, apicibus faucem fere 

 attingentibus, et sinistrorsum convoluta, post expansionem extus omnino deflexa. Stamina in parte 

 ventricosa tubi inclusa, subbrevia; filamenia brevissima; anthera in conum cohserentes, apice 

 acuminata, imo tenuiter 2-furcatse. Discus 5-lobus, lobis erectis, obtusis^ discretis. Ovaria 2, acute 

 oblonga, libera, disco pauUo longiora; stylus simplex, tenuis; clavuricula incrassata, parvula, ad 

 antheras agglutinata ; stigmata 2, minima, terminalia. Folliculi 2, globosi vel ovati, plus minusve 

 retrorsum rostrati, divaricatissimi, sutura ventrali longitudinali dehiscentes. Semina plurima, obo- 

 vata, dorso plurisulcata, nuda, ventre canaliculata, in sulci medio hilo notata, et hinc funiculo pul- 

 poso affixaet ei semiimmersa, fiiniculis ad placentas suturales utrinque cohaerentibus. 



Arbores America meridionalis ; truncus crassus, erectus, ramosissimus ; folia opposita, majuscula, 

 oblonga, aada, glabra, breviter petiolata ; corymbi ad nodos soUtarii, pedunculati, multiflori ; 

 pedunculus imo nudus, apice his trichotome divisus ; flores mediocres, 



1. Merizadenia Sananho, nob. : Tabernamontana Sananho, 'Si,. & P. Flor. Per. ii. 22, tab. 144; A. DC. 

 Prodr. viii. 363. In Peruvia : non 



A tree nearly 40 feet high, with a spreading head, an erect trunk, and copious 

 branches, all yielding a copious milky juice. It has stoutish terete dichotomous branch- 

 lets, with axils IJ in. apart ; leaves oblong, boatshaped, acute at the base, and with a long, 

 narrow, recurved point, repandly undulated at the margins, with prominent divergent 

 nerves and reticulated veins, 5-6 in. long, 2-2J in. broad, on stout subtetragonous petioles 

 3-5 lines long, thickened and fossate at the base, where they are conjoined across the 

 node by a prominent ridge. A single extra-axillary panicle at the nodes, 10-20-flowered, 

 1^ in. long, on a stout peduncle 4 hues long, bearing several branchlets 2-3 lines long, 

 each supporting 3 flowers on stoutish pedicels 2 lines long, furnished with small, cordate, 

 rounded bracteoles ; calyx 2 J lines long, with 5 rounded sepals ; corolla If in. long, pale 

 yellow, divided halfway into 5 segments ; tube cylindrical, angularly striated ; segments 

 spathulately oblong, gibbously rounded at the summit, with a strong, nearly median 

 nerve, suddenly and completely deflexed, 10 lines long, 6 lines broad ; stamens smallish, 

 biaristate, inserted near the middle of the tube ; 2 divaricated follicles subglobose, 

 stipitate at the base, with a short recurved apex, smooth, 2 in. long, Ij in. broad, con- 

 taining many dark obovate compressed seeds costately striated on th^ dorsal feice, 

 6 lines long, half-imbedded in the fleshy funicles. 



* From fiepll^u (divido), et dSiiv (glandula), on account of its divided disk. 



