CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
287 
nor is the exact place of its growth known. The species was 
established by Ventenat, who made his drawing above quoted 
from a plant raised from seeds brought home by Dombey, first 
cultivated by M. Cels, and afterwards in the Jardin des Plantes, 
where Poiret also saw it growing. The specimen now in the 
Paris herbarium, which I have seen, was contributed by Ven- 
tenat : his drawing well accords with it. It is described as a 
shrub having much the appearance of a Spartium, growing to the 
height of 3 feet. In the structure of its flower it quite agrees 
with that of the two following species, the characters of which 
are better known ; the only negative feature attached to it is the 
account recorded by Ventenat of its fruit, which is said to be 
3-coccous, and therefore at variance with the structure known to 
exist in the other species and in Trevoa ; but as it is very impro- 
bable that the fruit ever ripened in Paris, and as in the imma- 
ture state it was found to be trilocular, we may conclude that it 
was only assumed to be 3-coccous, like the other known species 
of Cnlletia, to which genus it was thought to belong. Ventenat, 
on the other hand, mentions its fleshy mesocarp, which becomes 
coriaceous in drying, as I have found it in R. stricta. 
2. Retamilia Ephedra, Brongn. Ann. Sc. Nat. x. 365 ; Hook. 
Bot. Misc. i. 157 ; ibid. iii. 173; — Colletia Ephedra, Vent, 
{non Bert.) Choix, tab. 1 6 ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. pi. 1820 ; — 
Rhamnus Ephedra, Bomb. MBB. ; — sufifruticosa, dumosa, 
ramulis imo spinosis, superne inermibus, valde strictis, vir- 
gatis, compresso-teretibus, forte striatis, cortice carnoso vesti- 
tis, junioribus albido-tomentosis, demum glabris ; nodis di- 
stantibus, stipuliferis, stipulis oppositis, gibbo-squamiformi- 
bus, fuscis, acutis, utrinque linea transversal! nexis; foliis 
nullis, aut caducissimis ; floribus plurimis, in capitulum sub- 
globosum sessile utrinque axillare aggregatis, aut paucio- 
ribus, in spicam brevissimam enatis ; pedunculo brevissimo, 
calyce urceolato, roseo-albido, Vxtus pubescente, tubo intus 
imo piloso, pilis longis patentibus, limbi laciniis 4, brevibus, 
erectis, petalis 4, niveis, oblongis, unguiculatis, cucullatis, erec- 
tis, staminibus totidem, vix sequilongis, ovario conico-oblongo, 
piloso, stylo brevi, crassiusculo, ad medium attingente ; fructu 
globoso. — Chile. — v. s. in herb, meo ; Chile (Ruiz & Pavon), 
sine loco designate; — in herb. Mus. Paris (specim. typicum, 
Dombey) ; “ Perou,” potius Chile ; — in herb. Hook. ; in con- 
vallibus Andium Chilensium ; Concepcion (Lay & Collie) ; 
Chile, sine loco (Cuming, 704). 
This is a well-established species ; its Ephedra-like branches 
are rather stout, equal in thickness throughout, of considerable 
length, and about a line in diameter, the nodes being about 
