CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
91 
six staminodes described by Tlmnberg ; but in the second flower, 
from another specimen of the same, only three staminodes were 
visible, placed opposite the ovaries. On searching more carefully, 
I discovered three other, alternate, much shorter staminodes, 
drawn in between the ovaries and concealed by their long hairs, 
and which were evidently dwarfed by exceptional growth. The 
character attributed to Batschia spicata, therefore, cannot he 
considered of any value until it is pi'oved to be permanent and 
complete. In Dr. Seemann’s plant the leaves are 2^-4| inches 
long, 1 j-2 inches broad, on a petiole ^ inch long. The slender 
^ raceme is 2|-4| inches long; its alternate short branches 
1-2 lines long, which bear three or four nearly sessile alternate 
flowers. The sepals are like those of Abuta ; but there is a dif- 
ference in the stamens, which are six in number; the filaments 
gradually thicken upwards, and are furnished in front and back 
with long pilosehairs ; thethree interior stamens aremuch broader, 
the globular anther-cells being affixed on the sides of the broad 
intervening filament, and burst by a longitudinal fissure ; the 
three outer stamens are somewhat shorter and much narrower, 
presenting the appearance, described by Thunberg, of being 
sterilized ; but the anther-cells, though smaller, are perfect, and 
are separated by a narrow compressed filament. We have a very 
similar character in the following species. 
13. Abuta acutifolia, nob; — Abuta concolor, Benth.in part, {non 
Pijpp.), Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. v. Suppl. 49; — suberecta, 
glaberrima ; ramulis teretibus, Isevibus ; foliis elongato-ellip- 
ticis, utrinque acutis, apice acuminatis et mucronulatis, mar- 
ginibus subrevolutis, coriaceis, opacis, imo triplinerviis cum 
nervis alteris 2 e basi enatis mox evanidis; nervis validis 
rubescentibus nitidis venisque transversis utrinque vix pro- 
minulis, reticulatione fere obsoleta, petioloque apice tumido 
et ruguloso undique glaberrimis ; panicula subracemosa, 
supra-axillari ; rachi glabra, petiolo triplo longioi-e, ramis 
alternatim 2-3-floi'is, fioribus subtomentosis. — In Guiana 
Brasiliana, v.s., prope Panure, Rio Uaupes (Spruce, 2763). 
This plant bears no appearance of a climber, being, on the 
contrary, according to Spruce, a shrub with weak branches, 
growing on rocks. The branches in my specimen are 1 line in 
diam., with internodes about f inch, the whole bearing much 
the appearance of an Anelasma. The leaves are 5-5| inches 
long, 2-2| inches broad, the petiole (1-1| inch long) being in- 
serted at an angle upon the plane of the leaf. The slender 
raceme originates at a distance of 3 lines above each axil, is 
3|-4 inches long, the alternate branches, at intervals of 3 hnes, 
are 2-3 lines long, bearing three alternate flowers on very short 
N 2 
