ON SOUTH-AMEEICAN APOCnSTACE^. 133 



Stipecoma, MiiU. (char, emendat.). Sepala lineari-oblonga, longiuscula, obtusa^ tenuiter membranacea, 

 reticulata, erecta, intus ad basin squamulis singulis altematim munita. Corolla tubulosa ; tubus calyce 

 longior, cylindricusj crasse carnosuSj imo latior, ad medium subito constrictus, superne inflatus, 

 5-sulcato-plicatus, fauce coarctatus, aut Isevior et subcampanulatus ; segmenta 5, oblongaj rotunda- 

 tim insequilateraj versus angulum siuistrum acuta, rotatim expansa, dextrorsum conroluta, tubo 

 subsequilonga. Stamina 5, inclusa; filamenta subbrevia, crassa, flexuosa, ad constrictionem tubi 

 inserta; antherce majusculse, rigidse, imo divaricatim biaristatse, apice acutissimse, in conum con- 

 niventes, et ad clavunculam cohserentes. Discus 5-lobus, lobis obtuse oblongis, carnosis, quam 

 ovarias paullo brevioribus. Ovaria 2, oblonga, subacuta; stylus tenuis, clavuncula crasse cylindrica 

 5-sulcata, imo membrana peltata sufiFolta, stamina attingeas ; stigmata terminalia, parvula, tenuia. 

 Folliculi 2, majusculi, teretes, longi, subarcuati, apice cohserentes, sutura ventrali dehiscentes ; 

 pericarpium crassum, rigidum ; placenta maxima, tenuiter chartacea, medio longitrorsum carinata 

 {carina intra suturam affixa, demum soluta), utrinque latissime extensa, et in tubi formam voluta, 

 marginibus vix approximatis, hinc undique libera, extus Isevis, intus costellis prominulis 10 

 (utrinque 5 carinse parallelis) remote articulatis munita ; articulis tot quot semina (circiter 60), 

 singulatim funiculo brevi semen pendendo et appendice mitraeformi velata donatis ; vasa spirales 

 medulla costellarum permeantes, per funiculos raphesque continuatae, demum in chalazis basalibus 

 evanidse ; testa elliptico-oblonga, cbartacea, glabra, dorso convexa, ventre canaliculata, et hinc raphe 

 longitudinali a funiculo ad chalazam basalem continua signata, apice in rostrum breve constricta, 

 superne in annidum micropylen ambientem et comiferum incrassata; coma testae lohgitudinis, 

 6 piUs elastice sericeis, erecta; albumen testae conforms, durum; embryo anatropos, inclusus ; coty- 

 ledones 2, oblongae, foliaceae, canaliculatim incurvae ; radicula supera, teres, his triplo longior. 



Frutices scandentes Brasilienses : folia opposita, crassa, late ovato-oblonga, profunde peltata, petio- 

 lata ; racemi axillares, longiusculi, pendentes, tomentosi, ramosi ; pedunculi bractea magna foliosa 

 donati, plurifiori ; pediceUi bibracteolati ; flores speciosi, lutei. 



1. Stipecoma peltigera, MiiU. Fl. Bras. xxvi. p. 176, tab. 53 : Echites peltigera, Stadelm, Bot. Zeit. 



1841, Beibl. 21 ; A. DC. I. c. p. 447 : Echites fropceolifoUa, A. DC. I. c. p. 447. In Brasilia, prov. 



Cuyaba, Minas Geraes et Bahia : non vidi. 

 The type, and only species described by Miiller as belonging to the genus ; several 

 others, however, are described by him under Echites which he did not recognize. This 

 is a delicate climbing species, very different in appearance from the others, which gene- 

 rally have very large leaves and bunches of handsome flowers. Its slender flexuose 

 branches have axils 2-3 in. apart ; its leaves opposite, oblong-ovate, peltate, rounded at 

 the base, suddenly acuminate and mucronate at the apex, rigidly membranaceous, with 

 revolute margins, rorid and cinereously reddish above, glaucously opake below, and 

 covered with very minute whitish dots, 2^8 in. long, 1|-1^ in. broad, on angular 

 slender petioles 1| in. long, fixed peltately ^-| in. above their base ; the panicles are 

 terminal in the dichotomy of the ultimate pair of leaves in the young branchlets, 

 li_2| in, long ; peduncle 8 lines long, divided into 2 branches of the same length, each 

 bearing about 6 flowers, on pedicels 3 lines long ; flowers reddish, 9J lines long ; sepals 

 roundly ovate, obtuse, glabrous, with ciliolate margins, 1 line long, with a small basal 

 bifid scale alternate with each; coroUa glabrous; tube cylindrical, contracted in the 

 middle, where it is staminigerous, 6 lines long ; segments dolabriform, 4 lines long and 

 broad; anthers acuminate, 2-aristate at the base, hispid dorsally; lobes of disk sub- 

 connate at the base, nearly as long as the 2 pilose ovaries ; 2 follicles, straight, terete, 



