CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
273 
Division 2. Chsenocarpae. Flores petaliferi ; fructus capsularis, 
dehiscens. 
3. Discaria. 
This genus was first established by Sir W. Hooker in 1830, 
and was then distinguished from Colletia principally on account 
of its smaller, cup-shaped, hypogynous disk, having an entire 
border, and not being perigynous, with a very remarkable invo- 
lute margin : this, and the presence of petals, were well-marked 
characters ; but these exist also in other genera since then 
established, which are again signalized by other distinct features. 
The several species of Discaria, with two exceptions, seem to be 
limited to a region formed by the provinces which border the river 
Plate : they are all spinose in their habit, much resembling in 
appearance those of Colletia, and consist of undershrubs or low 
bushes, almost aphyllous, and generally glabrous. The peculiar 
character which distinguishes this genus from Ochetophila is that 
of its fruit, which here also is capsular, somewhat globular, and 
3-lobed, and half imbedded in the enlarged fleshy disk conjoined 
with the strongly ribbed cupular base of the calyx. I have 
pointed out in Colletia the easy decortication of the upper por- 
tion of the epicarpous covering, which, at the period of dehis- 
cence, breaks away by a transverse circumscissile line ; here, on 
the contrary, where it is thicker in texture, and half coriaceous, 
it opens by radiating lines into three valves, which generally 
remain persistent upon the margin of the disk, and thus allow 
its three enclosed cocci to spring out and escape. The support 
of the fruit appears formed of two thickened adnate cups ; the 
inner one, somewhat the longer, is the enlarged disk, surrounded 
by the detruncated base of the calyx, while in Ochetophila this 
appearance does not occur, as there the basal support is thin 
and almost membranaceous, and the disk, not exceeding the 
length of the calycine cup, is not manifest. For reasons assigned 
in their respective places, the following species, formerly placed 
here, are referred to other genera : D. australis. Hook., to Oche- 
tophila; D, pauciflora. Hook, fil., to Scypharia; and D. Touma- 
tou, Raoul, as already described, to Notophmia. 
Discaria, Hook. — Calyx tubuloso-campanulatus, 8-10-nervis, 
limbi lacinus 4-5, acutis, reflexis, sestivatione valvatis, imo 
demum circumscissus. Petala 4^5, squamiformia, ovata, un- 
guiculata, subconvexa, stamina amplectentia. Stamina 4^5, 
petalis vix breviora, et cum illis intra lacinias inserta : fila- 
menta brevissima, erecta ; antherce reniformes, 2-loculares, 
rima hippocrepica antice dehiscentes. Discus pateriformis, 
2 N 
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