CONTRIBUTIONS IT) BOTANY. 
101 
there is no symmetry whatever in any of its parts ; the sepals 
vary in number in the different species; and the petals are 
equally variable, being four, five, or six, and they do not embrace 
the filaments, though their sides curve inwards ; the number of 
stamens is always in excess of the petals, being generally six, 
seven, or eight, and in one instance I found nine ; in some spe- 
cies the ovaries are three, rarely six, and in two species constantly 
two. In Hypserpa the embryo is very slender and terete ; in 
Limacia it is somewhat broader, flatter, and loriform. In Hyp- 
serpa the radicle is equal in length to, or somewhat longer than, 
the cotyledons; in Limacia the radicle is only a quarter of their 
length. These valid differences, which I have constantly found 
in all the cases that have fallen under my observation, unques- 
tionably establish the claims of Hypserpa. The same authori- 
ties, after their usual method, annihilate all the species of Hyp- 
serpa, except the type, ignoring all the remainder ; while I have 
here enumerated nine species. 
Hypserpa, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala numero vario, 8, 
9, usque ad 12, 2-3-serialia, quorum exteriora bracteiformia, 
5-6 interiora majora, oblonga, marg:inibus late membrana- 
ceis erosis et ciliatis, sestivatione imbricata. Petala 6, 5, vel 4, 
sepalis paulo minora, obovata, carnosula. Stamina 6 ad 10, bi- 
seriata, quorum 4, 5 vel 6 exteriora, reliqua centralia ; filamenta 
carnosula, subcompressa, incurvata, apice incrassata; antherce 
2-lob8e, lobis ovatis, distinctis, subobliquis, apice filamenti 
subimmersis, latere exteriori rima longitudinal! dehiscentibus. 
Fcem. Sepala 8, oblonga, crassiuscula, margine membranacea, 
imbricatim disposita, quorum 2 exteriora bracteiformia. Pe- 
tala 5-6, oblonga, concava, carnosula. Stamina sterilia 6, 
cum petalis gynaecio inserta, apice clavata, antheris subobso- 
letis. Ovaria 6, rarius 3, interdum 2, gynaecio central! insita; 
stylus brevissimus ; stigma oblongo-lineare, profunde canali- 
culatum, subtrilobum, vel incisum. Drupee abortione 2-3, 
transversim ovatae, carnosae, styli vestigio basi propinquo no- 
tatae : putamen valde osseum, subglobosum, paulo compressum, 
peripheriam versus utrinque radiatim sulcatum, carina peri- 
pherica laevi ; l-loculare, loculo lunato circa condylum gyrato ; 
condylus excentricus, intus septulo integro 2-cameratus, 
utrinque meatu linear! parvo extus perforatus ; semen loculo 
conforme, dorso angulaturn, ventre subplanum; integumenta 
tenuia, medio raphes ventralis prom mentis linearis condylo 
affixa; embryo intra albumen simplex copiosum carnosum 
fere annulosum tenuiter elongatus, omnino teres, cotyledonibus 
accumbentibus, ad hilum tensis, radiculce superae ad stylum 
spectanti aequalibus, vel subbrevioribus. 
