172 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
St. Hilaire’s specific character was founded on a ? plant. Vel- 
loz’s figure is a good representation of the species, with leaves 
somewhat broader than usual. 
Dr. Eichler, in adopting the extreme views of the authors of 
the ‘ Flora Indica ’ in regard to Cissampelos, has made an excep- 
tion to their rule, by acknowledging this species to be distinct 
from C. Pareira, although he fuses into it all the other species 
with erect stems, together with two scaudent plants which bear 
no relation to it whatever. The ground on which this species, 
so amplified, is acknowledged is not its erect and non-scandent 
habit and diminutive height (characters not regarded by Dr. 
Eichler as of any specific value), but solely because he attributes 
to it (including other plants which he considers to be synony- 
mous) an herbaceous stem. This is a feature I cannot allow them 
to possess ; nor does St. Hilaire, a most observing botanist, who 
noted the characters of this very species as well as C. ebracteata 
at the place of their growth, and he distinctly describes both as 
having a sufiFruticose erect stem. In respect to C. Hcenkeana 
and C. hirsutissima, which Dr. Eichler includes in this species, 
Presl describes the one as being “fruticosus et volubilis,” and 
the other as a “ frutex volubilis.” I may also add that M. Triana 
does not attribute an herbaceous stem to his C. vestita, also in- 
cluded in this species by Dr. Eichler. This botanist has no 
more substantial reason for amalgamating all the erect species 
with C. ovalifolia than he has for absorbing in C. Pareira the 
long list of well-established species which he quotes as its 
synonyms. 
There is one peculiarity in all these erect species, which does 
not seem to be generally known : they are never seen in the 
forests, where nearly all the scandent species are produced ; 
those of Brazil are confined to the upland districts, where they 
grow in sterile grassy plains ; those of Guiana and the countries 
to the north of the Amazonas appear in arid savannas. One of 
the prominent features, which serves to mark them specifically, 
is the comparative length of the petiole, in which respect the 
eight species here enumerated may be divided into three sec- 
tions : — 1. where the petiole is extremely short, not exceeding 
3 lines in length, embracing C. crenata, mallophylla, ovalifolia, 
and communis-, 2. where it is of median length, from 4 to 6 lines, 
as in C. velutina and vestita ; and 3. where the petiole is longer 
than 6 lines, as in C. suborbicularis and Amazonica. 
42. Cissampelos communis, St. Hil. FI. Bras. i. 52, tab. 11 ; — 
Cissampelos ovalifolia, Eichl. [non DC.) 1. c. p. 187; — caule 
erecto, simplici, rufo tomentoso ; foliis ovatis, imo truncatis, 
apice obtusiusculis vel subacutis, mucronatis, in ? majoribus. 
