CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
167 
coriaceous, with a narrow membranaceous border; two erect 
achenia 1^ line long, elliptic, plano-convex, perforated at the 
apex, with no portion of the tubillus exserted*. 
4. Ephedra Andina, Popp. ; Meyer, Mem. Acad. Petrop. v. 78 ; 
— caulibus plurimis subhumifusis, ramis ramulisque ramosis- 
simis adscendentibus, singulis ad pedem vaginatim foliosis, 
tlexuosis, nodosis, subarticulatis, intemodiis subbrevibus, vi- 
ridiusculis, granuloso-striatellis ; folds minimis, oppositis, co- 
riaceis, acutis, imo vaginatim nexis, lobis in junioribus subu- 
lato-acuminatis, mucronulatis, serius distinctis ; spicellis 6 
axillaribus, breviter pedunculatis, solitariis vel binis glomeratis, 
basi 2-bracteolatis ; involucellis per paria 6 decussatim oppo- 
sitis et imbricatis, imo vaginatis, obovatis, primum submem- 
branaceis et flavescentibus, serius subcoriaceis et membranaceo- 
marginatis ; perigonio petaloideo, limbo 2-lobo ; columna 
staminifera longe exserta, antheras 5-6 sessiles apice 2-porosas 
gerente : spicellis fructiferis axillaribus, solitariis, longe pe- 
dunculatis; pedunculo in medio 2-bracteolato; involucellis 
majoribus, magis coriaceis ; acheniis 2, collateralibus, termi- 
nalibus, glaucis, striatellis, involucello paulo longioribus, 
apice perforatis; tubillo breviter exserto, apice insequaliter 
fisso aut lacerato. — In Andibus Chilensibus ; v. s. in herb, meo 
et Hooker., S Cordillera de Maule (Germain) ; in herb. Hooker., 
$ Chile australis (Dr. Philippi). 
In the memoir above cited, Meyer has confounded together 
(but with some doubt) all the Chilean species of Ephedra. The 
above-described plant, from the provinces south of the River 
Maule, the region visited by Poppig, has been selected as the 
type of E. Andina, Popp. It is a well-marked species. The 
foregoing diagnosis, drawn wholly from it, should be substituted 
for the more general character assigned by Meyer. It seems to 
be a very bushy plant, its lower branehes hanging on the ground, 
and its ramifications rising upwards. In Germain’s specimens, 
a cross section of its branches exhibits three or four distinct 
annular zones, showing a solid white wood with close medullary 
rays : these are 2^ hues in diameter, and very fiexuose ; its bark 
is thick and of a brownish colour, but in the younger branchlets 
of the last year’s growth it is of a yellowish green, the inter- 
nodes being 1^ to 2 inches apart. The axillary branchlets or 
peduncles which bear the 6 flowering spikelets are generally 
half a line, seldom 2 lines, in length ; these spikelets are 2-2^ 
lines long, with six pairs of imbricated involucels ; the perigo- 
nium is | line long, and the staminal column, rising above it, 
* A figure of this plant will be seen in Plate 76 a. 
VOL. II. 
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