CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
39 
on their upper surface. The generic features of Acicarpa, as 
here given from my own observations, will be found to dilFer in 
many essential respects from the chai’acters assigned to it by 
Richard and DeCandolle. 
Acicarpa, R. Br. ; — Acicarpha, Juss. ; — Cryptocarpha, Cass . — 
Char, emend. ; Involucrum polyphyllum ; foliola 5, lineari- 
oblonga, insequalia, persistentia, uniserialia, toro parvulo ad- 
nata; receptaculum lineari-cylindricum, toro suffultum, paleis 
obovatis ovario longioribus inter flores onustum. Flores con- 
similes, superiores nihilominus substeriles. Calycis tubus 
ovario 5-angulato arete adnatus, limbo libero 4r-5-dentato, 
dentibus parvis, ovatis, obtusiusculis, hyaliuis, textura laxa, 
tubi angulis continuis, demum excrescentibus. Corollee tubus 
gracilis, ovario 2-plo et limbo sesquiduplo longior, limbo in- 
fundibuliformi profunde 4-5-partito, laciniis oblongis, obtu- 
siusculis, crassis, sub-3-nerviis. Stamina inclusa ; filamenta 
imo in tubum monadelphum carnosum fauci insertum coalita, 
apice brevissime disjuncta; antherce oblongse, basi emarginatae, 
imo usque ad medium syngenesse, dehiiic liberae, conuectivo 
crasso dorsali imo nodoso filamento continue affixae. Ovarium 
tube calycis adnatum, 1-loculare, 1-ovulatum, apice conico 
nudum. Achemia plurima, congesta, brevia, profunde 5- 
sulcata, pleraque (praesertim inferiora) inter se et cum recep- 
taculo in globum echinatum concreta, lobis calycinis excres- 
centibus et spinescentibus, divaricatis ; pauca superiora, saepe 
libera, vel interdum (sed non semper) sterilia. Semen ordinis. 
Herbae perennes, Brasilienses, Bonarienses et Chilenses, sub- 
procumbentes ; radix subfusiformis ; caules plures, ramosissimi ; 
folia alterna, radicalia petiolata, caulina sessilia, oblonga vel 
linearia, Integra vel inciso-dentata •, pedunculi oppositifolii, 
monocephali, axillares et terminates. 
1. Acicarpa spathulata, R. Br., Linn. Trans, xii. 129 ; — Acicarpha 
spathulata, Rich. Mem. Mus. vi. 78, tab. 12 ; DC. Prodr. v. 3 ; 
— Cryptocarpha spathulata, Cass. Diet. xii. 85; — Sommea 
calcitrapa, Bory ; — Echinolema arenarium, Jacq. fil. ; — Acan- 
thosperma littorale, Velloz, Flor.Flum. Icon. viii. tab. 152; — 
Buphthalmum Bonariense, Pers. Ench. ii. 474; — glabra, cau- 
libus decumbentibus, ramosis; folds cuneato-oblongis, apice 
rotundatis et mucronatis, imo in petiolum longum decur- 
rentibus, integris vel rarius paucidentatis, 3-nerviis, utrinque 
cano-glaucis ; pedunculo monocephalo in ramulis axillaribus 
terminali, folio longiore; involucri foliolisinsequalibus, spathu- 
lato-oblongis, mucronatis, integris, patentibus, flores longe 
excedentibus. — Rio de Janeiro, in arenosis maritimis. 
Planta bene cognita et auctoribus ampliter descripta ; recepta- 
