1894.] D. Praia. — Some additional species of Convolvulaccoe. 9J 



Prodr. ix., 354 ; erect, branclies rmmerous slender, short, rigid ; flowers 

 longer than the leaves, bracts narrowly oblong, pedicels very short. 

 Coll. 8f HemsL, Journ. Linn. Sac. xxviii., 94, t. 15. Convolvulus lycioides, 

 Wall. Cat. 1390. 



Burma: Kyauk-Taloong, Wallich ! Pegu Yomah, Kurz ! Meiktila, 

 Collett ! Tagoung, Up-slay, /. Anderson ! Pienmona, King's Collectors ! 



An erect bush, 6-10 feet ; ultimate branches straight, virgate, 2-10 in. ; leaves 

 numerous ^-f in. by i-| in. glabrous above sparingly hirsute beneath, as are the 

 branches, peduncles and outside of the bracts ; peduncles \ in., hv&ctB \ in. \on^- 

 pedicels 0-g^ in. Sepals } in. (fruiting 5 in.) diam., glabrous, as are the pedicels. 

 Corolla J in., white. Berry \ in. diam. 



2. Blinkworthia convolvuloides Prain ; climbing or trailing, 

 branches few slender long flexousj flowers shorter than the leaves, 

 bracts ovate-oblong, pedicels distinct. 



Burma : Kendat Prazer ! Myingyan Prazer ! 



A climber, over 40 feet long (Kendat specn.) or a prostrate creeper (Myingyan 

 specn.), ultimate branchlets 10-18 in.; leaves sparse 1^-2 in., by i-J in., glabrous 

 above sparingly hirsute beneath, as are the branches, peduncles, and bracts externally ; 

 peduncles \-\ in. Sepals 5 in. diam. (in fruit J in.) glabrous, as are the jiedicels. 

 Corolla f in. campanulate, white. Berrij ^ in. diam. 



This has distinctly larger leaves, bracts, sepals and fruit than B. lycioides, 

 though the writer would not on these grounds alone claim for it the rank of a species. 

 The habit, however, is too digeverent to admit of its treatment as a mere variety. 

 This is not a case of what is under ordinary circumstances an erect shrub becoming 

 a climber under suitable conditions ; the field-notes made by the Calcutta Garden 

 collector show that even when deprived of support this remains a weak, slender, 

 prostrate species. 



4. LETTSOMIA Roxb. 



The difference between Argyreia and Lettsomia consists in the ovary beiuc 

 completely 4-celled in the former, only 2-celled in the latter; not infrequently, 

 however, a partial dissepiment is found at the base of the cell in Lettsomia; the 

 fruits are in both genera indehiscent. 



In Ipomoea (§§ Batatas aud Quamoclit) the ovary is, as in Argyreia, completely 

 4-celled; in Ipomoea (§§ Calonyction, Aniseia, and Euipomoea) the ovary, as in 

 Lettsomia, is 2-celled, while in many of the species of Euipomoea the same partial 

 dissepiment is found at the base of the cell. If, therefore, Ipomoea is to retain 

 within it those plants of both classes where the fruit is dehiscent it seems essential 

 that the plants of both classes wliere the fruit is not dehiscent should be included 

 in one widened genus Argyreia. Choisy in his monograph of Convolvulaceae 

 (DC. Prodr. ix,), includes Roxburgh's Lettsomia in Argyreia ; but breaks up Ipomcea 

 into as many genera as there are now recognised sections. Bentham and Hooker, 

 {Genera Plantarum, ii.) on the other hand, recognise, and it seems very justly so, a 

 widened Ipomoea which includes all of these, but separate Lettsomia from Argyreia. 

 The opinion that Lettsomia aud Argyreia desex've to be re-united has been formally 

 expressed by Collett and Hemsley {Journ. Linn, Soe, xxviii, 95). With that opinion 



