68 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
of his genus Nothapodytes, quite correspond with those of Map- 
via, I feel no hesitation in considering these genera as identical ; 
the characters of this species there given, being also analogous 
to the plants above described, and the proximity of the countries 
of their origin, all seem to confirm this conclusion. 
Desmostachys. 
I propose to establish this genus upon a plant of very peculiar 
habit from IMadagascar, which I have found in the herbaria of 
Dr. Lindley and Sir William Hooker, remarkable for its several 
slender spicated racemes, grouung out of each axil, whence its 
generic name, and which I adopt upon a manuscript suggestion 
of Dr. Planchon. It resembles Mappia in the structure of its 
flowers, but the floral parts are far more delicate and membra- 
naceous in texture, and retain their yellowish colour in drying ; 
the stamens and style are marked with numerous pellucid dots, 
and the anther-cells are thin and membranaceous ; the ovarium 
is covered with very long setose hairs and is seated on a distinctly 
5-lobed disk. 
Desmostachys, gen. nov. — Flores perfecti. Calyx minimus, 
brevissime cupulatus, 5-dentatus, ciliatus, persistens. Petala 
5, sequalia, hypog^ma, lineari-oblonga, membranacea, extus 
pilosa, sestivatione valvata, apice inflexa, sub anthesi patentia. 
Stamina 5, longitudine petalorum et iis alterna; filamenta 
tenuiter linearia, membranacea, apice attenuata, disco inter 
lobos alternatim extus inserta ; anthera oblongse, 2-lob8e, 
4-locellat0e, imo breviter 2-fldse, dorso medio affixse, lobis 
membranaceis, singulatim 2-loceIlatis, demum septicidis et 
longitudinaliter evolutim dehiscentibus. Ovarium liberum, 
ovatum, villosum, disco cupuliformi obtuse 5-lobato sufFultum, 
1-loculare; ovula 2, juxta apicem loculi superposita, podo- 
spermio crasso subcollateraliter suspensa, anatropa. Stylus 
erectus, gracilis, glaber, pellucido-punctatus. Stigma obsolete 
lobatum. i^rMe^««,ignotus. — Frutex scandensMadagascariensis; 
folia alterna, ovata, coriacea, glaberrima, petiolata •, racemi 
plurimi, axillares. spicati, gracillimi, paucijiori, folio subbre- 
viores, floribus minimis, sessilibus, bracteatis. 
1 . Desmostachys Planchonianus, n. sp. ; — scandens, ramulis tere- 
tibus, Isevibus; fohis cuneato-ovatis vel lanceolato-oblongis, 
apice brevissime et repente attenuatis, crasso-coriaceis, utrinque 
lucidis et glaberrimis, supra Isete viridibus, subtus pallidis, 
nervis venisque valde reticulatis promiuentibus, margine revo- 
lutis, petiolo brevi, brunneo, rugoso, inflexo, canaliculato ; 
racemis in axillis 5-8-fasciculatis, spicatis, gracillimis, pubes- 
