ON SOUTH-AMEEICAN APOCYNAGILE. 185 



racter of no distinctive value, as this is also seen in many other genera. As mentioned 

 in a preceding page (p. 183), Amhly anther a was suppressed by the authors of the ' Genera 

 Plantarum ' (ii. p. 726), and absorbed into Mandevilla, which is an essentially different 

 genus : in the former the plants are very bushy, the branches, wanting the peculiar 

 stipules of the latter ; the only plant known of Mandevilla is, on the contrary, a very 

 slender climber, with a different inflorescence. Amblyanthera has a condensed panicle 

 of many flowers, on short pedicels hidden by large, broad, foliaceous bracts, much imbri- 

 cated — a feature only approached by Laseguea, where the bracts are linear and very 

 narrow. Amblyanthera, however, when properly restricted, constitutes a very good genus. 

 Miiller evidently was not aware that, besides the basal lobes, the rest of each anther is 

 formed upon a peculiar plan ; the want of this knowledge led him to unite with it a host 

 of heterogeneous species, a list of which is here appended. Miiller, in his illustrations of 

 Amblyanthera, gives a correct representation of one of the species in his plate 45 ; but his 

 plate 44 represents a very different plant, which I have referred to my genus Mitosus. 



The following is an amended diagnosis of the genus, according to my own observa- 

 tions. 



Amblyantheea, MiilL, (in parte), char, emendato. Sepala 5, acutissime lineari-lanceolata, erecta, sub- 

 membranacea, paulo quincuncialiter imbricata, intus squamula deltoidea vel ovata insequaliter 

 lacinulata singulatim mumta. Corolla majuscula ; tubus cylindricus, sub medium angustatus, intus 

 ad constrictionem lineis 5, vel annulo retrorsum piloso donatus, superne campanulatus ; segmenta 5, 

 dolabriformia, angulo sinistro acuta, latere altero borizontaliter rotundata, sestivatione dextrorsum 

 conToluta, demum expansa, tubo breviora. Stamina 5, inclusa, annulo piloso insita; filamenta sub- 

 brevia, linearia ; antherm longiusculse ; connectivum membranaceum, late lineare, coloratura, apice 

 acutum, medio loculis 3 parvis ovatis coUateralibus poUiniferis signatum, margine sub medium 

 callo magno incrassatum ; callus superne hippocrepiformis, inferne truncatus et in lobulos 2 breves 

 obtusos fissus. Discus urceolatus, camosus, usque ad medium in lobos 5 obtusos (issus; ovaria 

 2, acute oblonga, disco pauUo longiora; stylus filiformis; clavuncula incrassata, oblonga, longi- 

 tudine 5-glandulosa, imo appendice membranacea signata, mox ad antheras adglutinata, his hinc 

 in conura cohserentibus ; stigmata 2, parva, acuta, terminalia. Folliculi 2, teretes, torulosi, sub- 

 arcuati, apice interdum nexi, valde pilosi ; placenta e marginibus suturse ventralis introflexis, anguste 

 lineares; semina plurima oblonga, ad ventrem concavum raphe longitudinali signata; coma pilis 

 rufulis sericeis 3-3plo longioribus coronata. 



Frutices plerumque Brasilienses, valde ramosi ; ramuli stepe fistulosi, flexuose subscandentes, hirsuti, 

 cum axillis remotis ; folia opposita, oblonga, imo scepius cordata, acuminata, eglandulosa, pubescentes 

 vel subhirsuta, petiolata ; racemi singulatim laterales ; pedunculus elongatus, supra medium crebre 

 pluriflorus ; pedicelli breves, imo bracteati ; bractea magna, foliosa, ovata, longe cuspidata, stipitata, 

 pedicello 3-4iplo longior ; flores majusculi, coccinei vel lutescentes, sapius exius niveo-tomentosi. 



1. Amblyanthera hibsuta, nob. : Echites Mrsuta, Velloz, M. Flum. p. 113, Icon. iii. tab. 44 (non E.. 

 & Sch., nee Stadelm. nee Hook.) : Echites Fluminensis, A. DC. Prodr. viii. p. 453: Amblyanthera 

 Fluminensis (in parte), Miill. Fl. Bras. xxvi. p. 149. In prov. Rio de Janeiro, Boa Vista, circa 

 Itagoahy (Velloz) : v. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. Itagoahy (Bowie & Cunningham, inflore etfructu). 



The above specimen, from the same locality, is quite in accordance with Velloz's draw- 

 ing in regard to the length of the internodes, the size and shape of the leaves, and the 

 character of the inflorescence, differing only in the fruit, which corresponds with that of 

 the genus as given by MiiUer. Velloz's drawing of the follicle is that of an Asclepiad,^^ as 



2b 



