288 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
1-1^ inch apart ; occasionally a few spines (or stunted branch- 
lets) are seen, which are nearly erect, deeply striated, with a 
callous, pungent apex, and are 1-1 j inch long. A capitate in- 
florescence is seen in the opposite axils of each node of the vir- 
gate branches; it is about | inch in diameter, and 'consists of 
an aggregation of small flowers ; the peduncles are extremely 
short ; the calycine tube is 1 line long, its segments being ^ line 
in length, it is 1;^ line in diameter*. 
3. Retamilia stricta, Hook. Arn. Bot. Misc. iii. 173; — RetanUla 
affinis, Clos, in Gay, Chile, ii. 26 ; — sufiruticosa, sesquiorgyalis, 
ramosa, ramis e basi plurimis, assurgentibus, ramulis strictis, 
virgatis, rigidis, erectis, glabris, teretibus, striatulis, fere 
aphyllis, nodis remotis ; foliis oppositis, parvulis, rarissimis, 
caducissimis, spathulato-oblongis, carnosis, pilosiusculis, late- 
ribus canaliculatim reflexis, breviter petiolatis ; stipulis axil- 
laribus, gibboso-squamiformibus, fuscis, acutis, oppositis, et 
utrinque linea transversali nexis ; ramulo florifero brevi, 
aphyllo, racemiformi, nodis crebris, floriferis, squamis oppo- 
sitis munitis; floribus ibi oppositis, solitariis, et hinc quasi 
racemoso-spicatis ; calyce late cylindrico, carnoso, roseo-albido, 
extus glabro, intus imo piloso, pilis patentibus, limbi laciniisb, 
triangularibus, erectis, demum e basi caduco ; petalis 5, laci- 
niis sequilongis, ovatis, cucullatis, unguiculatis, erectis, niveis; 
staminibus totidem, petahs reconditis, demum inflexis ; ovario 
oblongo, 3-4-sulcato, stylo incrassato, subulato, tereti, longi- 
tudine fere tubi, pilosissimo, piUs longis, albis, creberrimis, 
patentibus ; stigmate 3-4-lobo, lobis obtusis, adpressis ; 
fructu globoso, cortice coriaceo, crasso, disco substipitiformi 
suffulto ; nuce conformi, durissimo, indehiscente, lignoso, 3-, 
rarius 4-loculari, seminibus nitentibus. — Chile. — v. v. ad 
Quintero {Retama et Retamilia incolarum). — v. s. in herb. 
Hook.) Valparaiso (Cuming, 402); — in herb. Mus. Paris-, in 
Prov. Cauquenes (Gay), vdrnac. Frutilla del Campo. 
This species,'SO far as my observation extends, does not grow 
in the immediate neighbourhood of Valparaiso, but at a distance 
of twenty or thirty miles from that port, near the coast, where 
the violent surf and the strong incessant trade-wind produce 
elevated flats of considerable extent, formed of loose drift-sand 
carried to some distance in-shore ; and it was only in such situa- 
tions that I met with this shrub, growing among other trees and 
bushes. It is distinguished by well-marked characters from the 
preceding species. It grows to a height of 8 or 10 feet, with a 
broom-like habit, having very long, straight, erect branches, more 
This species is shown in Plate 39 d of this work. 
