248 ON SOUTH-AMEEICAN APOCTNACILS. 



glabrous, have their axils 1^ in. apart, and bear at their summits a terminal raceme ; 

 leaves 1| in. long, 9 lines broad, on hirsute petioles 1 line long, opposite upon the short 

 secondary branchlets, which are 6 lines apart ; raceme spreading, consisting of 3 branches, 

 nearly 3 in. long, all issuing from the base, where they are bare for 1 in., bearing upwards 

 at intervals of 6 lines lateral branchlets 8 lines long, bare for half that length, which bear 

 upwards a mass of approximate flowers more or less spreading, and all hirsutulous ; 

 pedicels 1 line long ; sepals f line long ; corolla 2 lines long, with an extremely short 

 tube ; foUicles said to be more than 1 foot long. 



14. FoKSTERONiA oTALiFOLiA, nob. : EcMfcs ovalifolia, Poir. Diet. Suppl. ii. p. 535 ; A. DC. /. c. p. 473. 

 In Antillis : v. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. Hispaniola (Swartz) . 



This specimen agrees with Poiret's description : its leaves are opposite, obovate, sub- 

 cuneately narrowed towards the base, rounded, mucronate at the shortly narrowed 

 summit, of a laurel-like texture, very dark green above, glabrous, rigidly coriaceous, 

 sulcate along the midrib and 5 pairs of divergent slender yellow nerves, nitid, with a 

 thick corrugulate parenchyma, pale yellow and opake beneath, granular and sparsely 

 puberulous, with prominent midrib and nerves, the veins wholly immersed, Ij-l^ in. 

 long, 9-10 Hnes broad, on slender channelled petioles 3 lines long ; panicles axillary, 

 longer than the leaves, puberulous, much branched, branches 6 lines long, again sub- 

 divided, with very numerous small flowers on bracteolate pedicels ^ line long ; sepals 

 subobtusely ovate, puberulous, ^ line long ; corolla in bud 2 lines long, shortly puberu- 

 lous ; tube very short ; rest as in the preceding species. 



15. FoESTEKONiA ROTUNDiuscuLA, nob. In Brasilia: v. s. in herb. Mus. Brit, infructu (SeUow). 



A species very near the preceding : branches slender, terete, glabrous, dichotomous, 

 axils about 1 in. apart; leaves orbicular, sometimes plicate, slightly cordate at the 

 base, suddenly constricted at the apex into a short acute acumen, fuscous green above, 

 finely rugulose, with immersed very fine nerves, paler and brownish beneath, opake, 

 obsoletely puberulous, with prominulent fine nerves, 1^ in. long, \\ in. broad, on slender 

 petioles 1 line long ; inflorescence axillary ; fructiferous peduncle 9 lines long ; glabrous 

 follicles 2, terete, 5 in. long, 1 line broad, much arched and conjoined at the apex ; seeds 

 many, linear-oblong, 4 lines long, compressed, striated dorsally, with a white longitudinal 

 raphe along the ventral face; coma reddish, sericeous, 6 lines long, suberect, and 

 caducous. 



Lasegtjea. 



A very good genus, established in 1844 by Prof. De CandoUe, well illustrated by 

 Delessert in his ' Icones,' and by Dr. Miiller in the ' Elora BrasUiensis,' as well as by 

 Velloz in the ' Plora Fluminensis.' Its several species have frequently (perhaps always ?) 

 knotty tuberose roots, from which spring one or more simple, stoutish, erect, sub- 

 herbaceous stems, with axils not very remote ; the leaves are opposite, ovate or oblong, 

 often cordate, on stoutish petioles ; raceme lateral or subterminal, forming an elongated 



