CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
301 
them to have been opposite, which is confirmed by the specific 
name given to it by the authors of the ‘ Flora Peruviana,’ in- 
dicating that both the leaves and spinescent branchlets are 
decussately opposite. The axils of the secondary branchlets are 
about g inch apart ; those of the tertiary branchlets or ramiform 
spines, which are 1^ to 2 inches in length, are about 4 lines 
apart, these branchlets being quite square, with prominent de- 
current angles. The loose leaves described by Kuntb, with their 
short petiole, are 1^ inch long and 10 lines broad, and evidently 
belong to some other plant. I found a few of the real leaves 
still remaining ; they are very small, being only 3 lines long 
and 3 lines broad, on a petiole line in length : these, on ac- 
count of their minuteness, had been overlooked by that botanist. 
The flowers are small, and almost sessile. Kunth was correct in 
his opinion that this species and his Rhamnus senticosa are con- 
generic, and that neither of them really belong to Rhamnus*. 
2. Scypharia parvijlora ; — Discaria parviflora. Hook. fil. Linn. 
Trans, xx. 229; — suffruticosa, intricata, ramis ramulisque 
strictis, tetragonis, compressis, subaphyllis, crebre spinescen- 
tibus ; spinis decussatim oppositis, longissimis, hoi’izontaliter 
patentibus, striatulis, calloso-pungentibus, interuodiis spinis 
5-plo brevioribus; foliis oppositis, oblongo-obovatis oblongisve, 
utrinque obtusis, apice mucronulatis, integerrimis, caducis, 
opacis, supra viridibus, subtus cuticula i-esinoso-crustacea 
glaucis, glabris, pinnato-nervosis, nervibus oranino immersis, 
petiolo brevissimo, subtereti, superne canaliculato ; floribus 
sparsis, minutis, solitariis binisve, subsessilibus, 5-meris ; 
petalis 2-fidis, latissime spathulatis, ungue brevi ; ovario 
2-loculari. — Ins. Gallapagos. — v. s. in herb. Hook. ; Albemarle 
Island (Darwin). 
This plant appears to correspond well in its characters with 
the preceding and the following species : it grows abundantly, 
forming thickets near the sea. Its branchlets are slender and 
very glabi’ous ; the spines are from 12 to 20 lines long, and the 
internodes 4 lines apart ; the leaves are nearly 1 inch long, and 
4 lines broad, on a petiole 1 line in length. It is worthy of 
remark, as indicative of the limit of the genus, that many of the 
plants of the Gallapagos are identical with those of Guayaquil, 
which is in the same latitude, and the nearest opposite point 
of the continental coast f- 
3. Scypharia senticosa ; — Rhamnus senticosa, H.B.K. vii. 54; — 
Sageretia senticosa, Brongn. Ann. Sc. Nat. x. 360 ; — Colletia 
spicata, Willd. in R. Sch. v. 513; — fruticosa, orgyalis, ra- 
mosissima, spinosissima, glaberrima, subaphylla, ramis sub- 
* A representation of this species is given in Plate 42 a. 
t This species is represented in Plate 42 b. 
