23-2 ON SOUTH-AMEEICAJSr APOCYNACE^. 



8. Mesechites myrtifolia, Miill. (in parte) Linn. xxx. p. 445 : Echites myrtifolia, R. & Sch. (non 



Poir.) Syst. iv. p. 795 j A. DC. I. c. p. 473 : Echites torulosa, Lam. (in parte) Diet. ii. p. 333 ; lUust. 

 tab. 174. fig. 1 : Nerium sarmentomm (4), P. Browne, Jam. p. 181, tab. 16. fig. 2. In AntUlis : 

 V. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. Jamaica (Houston, in fructu) . 



A slender, low, weakly species with twining glabrous or scabridulous branches, the 

 axUs being f in. apart ; leaves subpatently opposite, elliptic-ovate, obsoletely subcordate 

 at the base, subacute and mucronate at the apex, chartaceous, with subrevolute margins, 

 green above, opake, with immersed divergent nerves, yellowish opake beneath, with 

 prominent red midrib and nerves, veins transversely reticulated, 14 lines long, 7 lines 

 broad, on slender petioles IJ line long ; inflorescence terminal or axillary, on a peduncle 

 9 lines long, bearing beyond several alternate flowers on pedicels 2^3 lines long ; sepals 

 linear acuminate, IJ line long ; corolla salver-shaped, rose-coloured ; tube slender, a little 

 swollen in the middle, 6 lines long; segments dolabriform, 5 lines long, 3 lines broad, 

 rotate ; stamens enclosed iu the middle of the tube ; follicles 2, on a peduncle 4 lines 

 long, extremely slender, terete, substriate, torulose, 6 in. long, 1^ line broad, enclosing 

 several comose seeds. 



Miiller united into one species this and the following ; but this differs in its larger and 

 more ovate leaves, and its corolla with a tube more than double the length of the 

 other. 



A drawing of this species, in flower and fruit, showing its floral analysis, is given in 

 Plate XXXIII. A. 



9. Mesechites rosea, nob. : Echites rosea, A. DC. I. c. p. 450; Griseb. in PI. Cub. p. 520. In Cuba: 



V. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. Cuba (La Sagra 142 in flore, Wright 1662 in fructu). 



A climbing species with scabrid slender branches, filiform above, with axils f- 1|- in. 

 apart ; leaves patently opposite, rarely ternate, ovate-oblong, rounded and obsoletely 

 cordate at the base, rounded and mucroijulate at the summit, subcoriaceous, with revo- 

 lute margins, green above, with obscure immersed nerves, beneath yellowish-opake, with 

 very prominent midrib and diverging nerves (about 8 pairs), 9 lines long, 3-5 lines 

 broad, on slender petioles J line long ; raceme axillary, short, on a peduncle bearing 

 2-3 rose-coloured flowers on very slender pedicels 2 lines long ; sepals acute, 1 line long ; 

 corolla hypocrateriform ; tube narrowly cylindrical, 12 lines long, slightly ventricose 

 above the middle; segments inequilaterally ovate, very rotate, 6 Hnes long, 4 lines 

 broad, with dextrorse convolution ; stamens inserted in the middle of the tube ; disk of 

 5 oblong obtuse lobes, shorter than the ovaries; foUicles 2, subcompressed, torulose, 

 9 in. long, 2 lines broad, on a peduncle 6 lines long. 



10. Mesechites Brownei, nob. : Echites torosa, var. Brownei, A. DC. I. c. p. 449; MiiU. Linn. xxx. 



p. 446 : Echites Brownei, Griseb. I. c. p. 414. In America tropica : v. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. 

 Campeche (Houston), Cuba (Schott 38) .| 



A species differing in aU respects from M. torulosa, especially in the size and shape of 

 its leaves and in its inflorescence. The branches and branchlets are very slender, 

 scandent ; the leaves subapproximate, appearing remote from the falling-off of the 



