CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
179 
Friesia has little to justify its amalgamation with Aris- 
totelia. It offers a much closer approximation to Vallea. 
Gay states that in Aristotelia the typical plant has velvety 
stipules, which are very caducous. I have never perceived 
any indications of them ; and they do not appear in the 
drawing I made of the living plant forty-five years since. 
The source of this mistake appears to me obvious ; for in the 
axils of the leaves there is seen an oval bud consisting 
of several decussately imbricated, velvety, bract-like, con- 
cave, pointed, oval scales, out of which a new floriferous 
branch springs ; and these soon fall away after the development 
of the branch, which is consequently marked at its base by 
several annular cicatrices, as may be seen in all the dried 
specimens. 
Aristotelia, L’H^r, — Flores ssepius hermaphroditi, vel im- 
perfecte polygami, rarius 4-meri. Sepala 5, oblonga, acuta, 
basi toro cupuliformi agglutinata, aestivatione valvata, de- 
mum decidua. Petala 5, cuneato-oblonga, apice subtrun- 
cata et leviter emarginata, sepalis paulo longiora, membra- 
nacea, aestivatione imbricata. Discus amplus, annulari- 
cupuliformis, sub-5-gonus, camosulus, toro arete adnatus. 
Stamina 15, in phalanges 5 disposita, in foveolis totidem 
elevatis supra marginem disci inserta, nempe 3 in quoque 
angulo biseriata, quorum 2 exteriora, omnia sepalis hoc 
modo absolute opposita ; filamenta brevia, subulata, com- 
pressa, pilosa ; antheroe lineares, 4-sulcatae, 2-loculares, lo- 
culis collateraliter adnatis, imo breviter divaricatis, in sinu 
dorsaliter affixge, erect*, scabridulse, apice rima brevi oblique 
transversa utrinque dehiscentes. Ovarium subglobosum, 
3-sulcatum, fundo disci insitum, 3-loculare ; ovula in quo- 
que loculo 2, ad medium axis centralis appensa. Stylus 
erectus, teres, petalis sequilongus ; stigmata 3, brevia, subu- 
lata, subdivaricata. Fructus baccatus, globosus, pisi mag- 
nitudine, pulpa copiosa gelatinosa tunicatus, 3-locularis, 
endocarpio dissepimentisque membranaceis, columna cen- 
trali tenui ad medium seminifera. Semina in quoque loculo 
2 vel 1, dorso convexa, ventre angulata, et hinc ad medium 
hilo parvo signata ; integumentum externum (arillina) ni- 
grum, nitidum, camosum, processu supra angulum basalem 
decurrente laminari galeatim inclinato subcomeo appendi- 
culatum, intus raphe chordiformi brevi ad basin ab hilo 
descendente muni turn ; integumentum secundum osseum, 
ovatum, imo truncatum, hinc crassissimum et foramine in 
locellum vacuum pro raphes intrusione perforatum, apice 
mamilla parva (micropyle) notatum ; integumentum inter- 
