116 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
barrel-staves. The leaves are thick and rigid, of a pale, bright, 
shining green, generally elliptic and acute at both extremities, 
with a sharp mucronate apex, a thick yellowish cartilaginous 
border, which is generally entire, rarely obsoletely spinose, 
1^-2^ inches long, |-linch broad, on a fleshy thickened petiole 
2 lines long. The terminal inflorescence is a spicated raceme, 
ferruginously pubescent, 3 or 4 inches long, its numerous alter- 
nate branchlets, bracteated at base, being very patent, and 4-6 
lines long, each bearing at its apex 3-6 almost sessile flowers ; 
the sepals are suborbicular, pilose, with ciliate imbricated mar- 
gins, ^ line diam. ; the petals are oblong, 2 lines long, 1 line 
broad, cuneate at base, internally furnished with a raised cari- 
nated nervure, the margins crenated, broadly and quincuncially 
imbricated in aestivation, the summits of the three more internal 
ones being inflected and plicated together ; the stamens are 
about two-thirds the length of the petals; the ovary and short 
style are the length of the stamens, and glabrous. The fruit, 
which I have not seen, is said to be 6-8 lines long and 4-5 lines 
in diameter*. 
Var. lata ; — foliis late ovatis vel obovatis, e basi 3-5-nerviis 
hinc obtusis, rotundatis aut subcordatis, apice breviter et 
acute mucronatis, margine cartilagineo ssepius obsolete den- 
tato-spinosis, rigidulis, supra nitentibus et pallide viridibus, 
subtus opacis et flavescentibus, costa mediana superne paulo, 
subtus valde prominente, hinc in axillis nervorum poroso- 
glandulosis; petiolo brevi, lato, aupeme profun de canaliculate, 
in junioribus puberulo; racemis terminalibus, ssepe duplis, 
folio brevioribus, floribus dense agglomeratis, ramis brevis-, 
simis, puberulis, imo bracteatis, apice 2-floris; floribus sessili- 
bus, ebracteatis. — v. v. ad Limache ; v. s. in herb. Mus. Par., 
Rancagua, in herb. Hook., Valparaiso (Cuming, 556), Colcha- 
gua (Bridges). — An species distincta ? 
This variety is very distinct, in its constantly broader, larger, 
and more rounded leaves, the margin being often obsoletely 
spinose ; the inflorescence is much shorter, and the flowers are 
more aggregated; the leaves are 2-2^ inches long, inch 
broad, on a petiole 1-2 lines long ; the inflorescence is usually 
I inch, seldom 2 inches long; the alternate branchlets, being 
less than a line in length, bear one or two flowersf. 
2. Villaresia pungens, n. sp.; — ramulis teretibus, pallide glaucis, 
subpuberulis ; foliis glaberrimis, obovatis, basi rotundis et 
* A figure of this plant, with analytical details, is given in Plate 67 A. 
t This variety, with analytical details, is represented in Plate 67 b. 
