168 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
This plant was of extreme interest to me, as it was the first in- 
stance I had seen of regular monoecious flowers in the family. 
St. Hilaire described his C. monoica ; and though I have much 
faith in the accuracy of his observations, I always doubted the 
reality of his plant being truly monoecious, as he did not see the 
male flowers, and only inferred their existence. In the plant 
under consideration the branches are slender, with axils about 
3 inches apart ; the leaves are 3| inches long, 3^ inches broad, 
with a basal sinus 4 lines deep, the petiole being 2-2^ inches 
long, inserted ^ line within the margin, so that it may be said 
to be palate. The axillary racemes are about 6 inches long, 
with proximate bracts 3 lines long, 3^ lines broad, which grow 
smaller towards the extremity of the raceme ; they are borne on 
petiolules line long. There are four panicles fasciculated in 
each of the upper axils, borne on peduncles 4-5 lines long, with 
several short, alternate, 1-flowered pedicels | line long; while 
the $ flowers, in a bundle of five pedicels, each about 1 line long, 
are always seen fasciculated in the lower axils, the sepal being 
^ line long. 
38. Cissampelos diffusa, nob. ; — ramulis teretibus, striatis, fere 
glabris; folds palatis, suborbiculatis, imo cordatis, vel sub- 
truncatis et latissime bisinuatis, apice rotundiusculo emar- 
ginatis et mucronatis, submembranaceis, supra viridulis, ni- 
tidiusculis, baud puberulis, marginibus saepe ciliatis, subtus 
griseo-glaucis, adpresse subpilosis, nervis fusculis nitidulis 
paulo prominulis ; petiolo tenui, limbo paulo breviore, strjo- 
lato, puberulo : inflorescentia axillari, e ramulo novello 
racemiformi, petiolum vix excedente; axillis remotiusculis, 
bracteola parvula sericea paniculisque 2 geminatis munitis ; 
paniculis hi- tfichotome divisis, cum pedicello in dichotomiis, 
fere glabris, capillaribus ; sepalis obovatis, glabris. — In An- 
tillis : V. s. in herb. Hook, ^ , in Antillis ? (Gouan) ; ^ , Jamaica 
(Wilson). 
This species approaches C. Caapeba, but it difiers in its leaves 
not being deeply cordate, in being almost glabrous, in their 
slender petioles, and in its inflorescence. It resembles C. con- 
sociata in the shape of its leaves, their more slender petiole, but 
differs in its dioecious flowers and a more simple form of inflo- 
rescence. The leaves are 2j~3^ inches long, 3-3^ inches broad, 
the depth of the sinus on each side of the petiole being scarcely 
a line (when cordate, the sinus is 3 lines deep) ; the petiole is 
2-2^ inches long ; the inflorescence is nearly 3 inches long ; 
the panicles are 1-1 1 inch long, 1 inch broad; the peduncle 
9 lines, the primary rays 3 lines, the secondary 2 lines long. 
