ON SOUTH-AMERICAN APOCYNACE^. Ill 



cylindricus, superne campanulatus, fauce nudus ; segmenta 5, latissime dolabriformia, angulo sinistro 

 acuto, dextrorsum convoluta, sutrotatim expansa. Stamina 5, omnino iaclusa ; filamenta breviter 

 linearia, margine pilosa, ad contractionem tubi inserta ; anthera lineares, subacute bifurcatse, apice 

 in appendices 4plo longiores, tenuissime lineares, spiraliter tortas prolongatse. Discus e lobis 5 

 oblongis carnosis constans. Ovaria 2, oblonga, disco 2plo longiora. Stylus subtenuis ; clavuncula 

 incrassata, imo in membranam late peltatam expansa. Stigmata 2, obtusa, saepe pilosa, terminalia. 

 Folliculi 2, longi, teretes. Semina plurima, imbricata (non alata), compressa, apicem versus lanu- 

 ginosa, ecomosa. 



Su&utices Antillani et Columbienses, subscandentes ; folia opposita, interdum ternata aut verti- 

 cillata, ovata vel oblonga, breviter petiolata ; paniculse terminales aut axillares ; flores speciosissimi, 

 lutei vel albi. 



1. Chariomma surreota, nob.: Echites suberecta, Sw. (non Jacq.) Observ. p. 104; Andi'ews in Bot. 

 Repos. tab. 187 ; Sims, Bot. Reg. xxvii. tab. 1064, var. /3 ; Lunan, Hort. Jam. ii. 144 : Nerium sar- 

 mentosum (2), P. Browne, Jam. p. 180 : Neriandra suberecta, A. DC. Prodr. viii. 422 : Hamadictyon 

 suberectum, Don, Diet. iv. 23 : Urechites neriandra, Griseb. Fl. B. W. Ind. p. 415. In Antillis : 

 non vidi. 



This species has been confounded with the Echites suberecta of Jacquin by every 

 botanist, from Swartz downwards (except De Candolle), both plants being natives of 

 Jamaica ; but this differs in many essential particulars, especially in its inflorescence, 

 with large yellow flowers, in the position of its stamens, terminated by long twisting 

 filiform appendages, and the presence of a disk. It grows in savannas, flowering all the 

 year round, is a shrubby plant, charged with milky juice, and, when supported by other 

 shrubs, grows to a height of 10 feet, but in the open savannas to only 3 or 4 feet, some- 

 times even to only 1 foot. Its branching stem, is glabrous, the branches straight, weak, 

 terete, pubescent, the dilated axils 2-3 in. apart; opposite leaves ovate, rotmded at 

 the base, subobtuse and mucronate at the apex, subcoriaceous, entire, with very 

 revolute margins, above nitid, reticulated, somewhat pallid beneath, subhirsutulous, 

 2^ in. long, l^lf iu. broad, on channelled puberulous petioles 3 Hnes long; racemes 

 lateral at the nodes, 2-2^ in. long; peduncle bare for the length of 1-1^ in., trifld above, 

 and bearing 5-7 opposite flowers on pedicels 2-4 lines apart and 3-5 lines long, each 

 with a basal bracteole 3^ lines long ; sepals linear acuminate, hirsute, 3-4 lines long ; 

 corolla very large ; tube cylindrical, 15 lines long, contracted near its base for a quarter 

 of its length, swelling above, 5 lines broad in the mouth, hispidly pubescent externally, 

 with red striate lines within ; segments roundly dolabriform, acute at the sinister angle, 

 dextrorsely convolute, rotately expanded, smooth inside, membranaceous, yellow, 12 

 lines long, 9 lines broad; stamens seated in the contraction of the tube, included; 

 filaments short, pilose ; anthers linear, corneous below and bifurcate, prolonged at the 

 summit into very long filiform appendages, spirally twisted together, and nearly reaching 

 the mouth ; disk of 5 oblong, free, crenate lobes, surrounding the 2 small ovaries ; style 

 short and slender, clavuncle incrassate ; stigmata 2, obtuse, terminal. The 2 foUicles, 

 according to Swartz, are very long, terete and pubescent. Sloane says they are set 

 "" together like bull's horns. They contain several imbricate seeds, lanuginous towards 

 the apex, as in Elytropus and Skytanthus. 

 The whole plant is extremely poisonous. 



