CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
183 
valves. In Aristotelia this central column rises to two-thirds 
of the length of the cell ; but the endocarp is of too thin a 
texture to give sufficient elasticity to the parts, after they be- 
come di'ied, to cause its dehiscence. It will appear, therefore, 
that Vallea ought to stand close to Aristotelia, as it possesses 
all the essential characters of the Elceocarpece : it has the calyx 
and petals of Friesia, a disk very different from any of the 
Sloanece, the stamens, ovary, style, and stigma as in Aristo- 
telia. It has, however, one peculiarity in sometimes having 
stipules, which do not seem to be known in other genera of 
the Elceocarpece ; nor do they exist in the Sloanece ; but this 
appears to be only a partial feature in the genus. 
I have drawn up an amended character of Vallea from my 
own observations. 
Vallea, Mutis. — Flores hermaphroditi. Sepala 5, oblonga, 
acuta, marginibus lanuginosis, lestivatione valvata. Pe- 
tala 5, sepalis paulo longiora, membranacea, obovata, fere 
ad medium 3-loba, marginibus supersessis, mstivatione im- 
bricata. Discus crassus, in annulos 2 fossa intermedia con- 
strictus, exteriore piano, margine undulato toro adnato, in- 
teriore subcupulieformi, margine elevato et crenulato, in- 
tervals staminigero. Stamina 40, in seriebus 2, in con- 
strictione disci crebre disposita ; Jilamenta linearia, compla- 
nata, superne tenuiora, puberula, apice incurvata ; anther (p 
lineares, sub-d-gonse, antice et postice profunde sulcatge, 
basifixge, 2-loculares, apice utrinque poro obliquo angulato 
dehiscentes. Ovarium conico-rotundum, 3-4-sulcatum, 3- 
4-loculare, loculis 3-ovulatis ; ovula subreniformia, axe cen- 
trali affixa, superposita; stylus filiformis, erectus, stamina 
mquans, glaber ; stigmata 3-5, subbrevia, teretia, subdivari- 
cata. Fructus baccatus, globosus (pericarpio succulento, in 
tubercula plurima elongata obtusa camosa corrugato, endo- 
carpio Igevi), 3-locularis, siccus dehiscente ad apicem brevis- 
sime ac loculicide 3-valvatim aperiens : semina pauca, ignota. 
Arbores Neogranadenses et Peruvianoe, frondosce ; folia al- 
terna, ovato-oblonga, subcordata, integra, petiolata, interdmn 
stipulata, stipulis parvis, reniformibus, geminis ; paniculi 
axillares et terminates, pedicellis hracteatis. 
1. Vallea stipularis, Mutis in Linn. f. Suppl. 266 ; DC. Prodr. 
i. 520 ; H. B. K. v. 349, tab. 489. — In Hanta Fe de Bogota ; 
V. s. in herb. Mus. Brit. (Mutis). 
This plant is very well described and figured by Kunth. 
2. Vallea pubescens, H. B. K. v. 350 ; — ramulis teretibus, ni- 
VOL. II. 2 B 
