ON SOTJTH-AMEEICAN APOCTNACE^. 83 



basal scales ; corolla salver-shaped, white, its tube cylindrical, 4 lines long, pilose within ; 

 segments obliquely oblong, roundish on one side, with crispate margins, dextrorsely 

 convoluted, rotate, a little longer than the tube ; stamens inserted in a pilose ring above 

 the base of the tube ; filaments short, pubescent ; anthers slender, with a membranaceous 

 apex, acuminate, obtusely and shortly 2-lobed at the base ; disk of 5 oblong lobes, hardly 

 discernible; ovaries 2; clavuncle incrassated, 5-grooved, with a peltate membrane at 

 the base. 



The species is very near A.Jlavicans. 



Geissgspekmtjm. 



This peculiar genus was established in 1849, by Dr. Er. AUemao, with an excellent 

 description and drawing. Its chief characters reside in its alternate leaves, its extra- 

 axiUary inflorescence, the segments of the salver-shaped coroUa having a dextrorse con- 

 volution, in its cordate anthers, and especially in the structure of the follicles and seeds. 

 Six species are here enumerated, all Brazilian. 



GrEissosPERMTTM, F. AUemao : Sepala 5, lanceolata aut ovata, subacuta, imo in cupulam brevissimam 

 connata, intus squamula minuta annulo pilonun intermixta instructa. Corolla hypocrateiiformis 

 tubus cylindricus infra faucem pauUo inflatus et ibi obsolete plicatus, intus annulo pilorum signatus ; 

 seamenta oblonga, obtusa, vix insequilateraj in aestivatione paullo dextrorsum convoluta, tubo sub- 

 breviora. Stamina 5, inflatione tubi inclusa ; filamenta brevia, retrorsum pilosa ; antherct subovatae, 

 apiculatffi, imo emarginato-bilobse. Discus urceolatus, membranaceus, ovaria fere abscondens. 

 Ovaria 2, ovataj discretaj pilosa ; stylus simplex ; clavuncula incrassata, ad antheras agglutinata ; 

 stigmata 3, breviter obtusa, terminalia. Folliculi 2, valde divaricati, oblongi^ imo rotundati, apice 

 sensim acutati, baccati, ventre sutura crassa dehiscenteSj marginibus profunde introflexis et placenti- 

 feris. Semina ex utraque placenta 2-5, subcompresse ovata, uno latere, in centro, hilo signata, hoc 

 ad funiculum subcamosum peltatim affixa, primum in hunc semiimmersa, dein sua prolongatione a pla- 

 centa suspensa ; testa calva, chartacea ; tegmen membranaceum ; albumen tenuiter comeum ; embryo 

 heterotropus eo subbrevior ; cotyledones 2, cordato-deltoideae, foliacese ; radicula teres, ad summum 

 spectans, dimidia longitudine cotyledonum. 



Arbores proceri Brasilienses frondosi, via; lactescentes, cortice externo crasso, interna plurilamel- 

 lato ■ ramuli bis trichotome divisi, exstipulati ; folia alterna, elliptica, petiolata ; paniculse extra- 

 axillares, folii dimidia longitudine ; pedunculus brevis, 2-ramosus, ramulis flores plures pedicellatos 

 parvos subumbellatos gerentibus, cunctis sapius undique pubescentibus. 



1. Geissospermum Vellosii, Fr. Allem. Trab. Soc. Vellos. tab. 7 (excl. syn. Veil.) ; Miill. Fl. Bras. 



fasc. xxvi. p. 90 (in parte) : Vallesia sp., Riedel in Man. Agric. Bras. Prov. Eio de Janeiro, in 



montibus ad altit. 1000 ped. et ultra : non vidi. 



A tree of great height, the trunk covered M'ith a very thick bark, and an inner lamellar 



bark, apparently not lactescent ; branches flexuous, twice trichotomous, branchlets straight, 



cinereo-tomentose, becoming smooth ; axils J in. apart ; leaves alternate, subdistichous, 



elliptic, acute at the base, acuminate, very undulate on the margins, chartaceous, 



younger ooes cinereo-sericeous, with nerves prominulent on both sides, 2-3 in. long, 



l_li in, broad, on petioles 2-3 lines long ; panicle placed 2 lines above or below the 



axils ; peduncle stout, angular, 4 lines long, its 2 branchlets 2 lines long, bracteolated, 



bearing on their summits each 3-4 fasciculated flowers, on pedicels 1 line long ; sepals 



m2 



