CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
169 
6. Ephedra ochreata, n. sp. ; — suffruticosa, ramis virgatis raniu- 
lisque validis adscendentibus, ssepissime fusco-viridibus, stria- 
tellis, granuloso-scabridulis, epidermide facile rimosa, inter- 
nodiis remotiusculis ; foliis 3-nis vel 4-nis, rigido-submem- 
branaceis, in vaginam longiusculam striatellam connexis, api- 
cibus subulatis, serins omnino disruptis, tuncliberis et reflexis: 
spicellis 6 oppositis, 3-nis vel 4-nis, in axillis sessilibus et 
subglomeratis, oblongis, ad basin imbricato-bracteatis ; invo- 
lucellis in seriebus ternatis 6-9, imo nexis et decussatim al- 
ternantibus, ovatis, subcoriaceis, margine vix membranaceis, 
perigonio subsequilongis ; antheris 5-6, exsertis : spicellis 
fructiferis 2^, breviter pedicellatis, subverticillatis ; acheniis 
2, oblongis, subacutis, ultra medium exsertis. — In Provinciis 
Argentinis, Travesia de Mendosa $ mibi lecta ; v. s. in herb. 
Hook, et Mus. Brit., 6 Patagones, Prov. Buenos Ayres (Twee- 
die), Bahia Blanca (Darwin), Port S. Elena (Capt. King), Bahia 
San Antonio. Var. striata d et $ Mendosa (Gillies). 
A very distinct species, with long virgated and somewhat 
curving branches, which are striated, 1 to 2 lin. diam., the inter- 
nodes being 2 inches apart; the younger ones are somewhat 
fistulose, with a central pith, but the older branchlets are en- 
tirely woody ; four branchlets issue from a node, two being su- 
perposed in each opposite axil ; or there are three verticillate 
branchlets at a joint ; the leaves are 4 lines long, seldom oppo- 
site, most frequently ternate, and united together as far as their 
middle into a sheath which loosely embraces the stem ; they are 
membranaceous, with a subulately acuminate apex terminating 
in a long cuspidate point proceeding from the excurrent nerve ; 
four sessile male spikelets are placed verticillately round each 
node within the ruptured sheath, the leaves now becoming re- 
flexed and withered; these spikelets are 2 lin. long, and lin. 
broad ; each consists of three series of imbricated bracts at base, 
and nine other floriferous series closely imbricate and alternately 
decussate, each series consisting of three involucels vaginately 
united at base; the flowers, from twenty-five to thirty in each 
spikelet, are therefore ternately verticillate in each series. The 
perigonium is petaloid, of the usual form, of delicate reticulated 
texture, the areoles being generally disposed in longitudinal 
rows sometimes anastomosing with each other, each areole being 
isolated and replete with a coloured fluid ; there is no vestige of 
any neiwure or spicular cells as in Welwitschia. The involucels 
are similarly reticulated, but they finally become thickened, 
opake, and coriaceous, except round the margins ; the coriaceous 
portion is constituted in the manner described in a preceding page 
(p. 162). The fructiferous spikelets, upon distinct but similar 
z 2 
