270 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
tuberculated strife ; it has a broad and somewhat flattened peri- 
phery, with a remarkably acute projecting keel running round it 
between two grooves ; the condyle is altogether central and quite 
circular, consisting of two broad and deep open chambers, with a 
finely toothed margin, and separated by a septum formed of two 
thin united laminae, having a central hole, sometimes very large; 
the putamen is thus cleanly pierced through its centre by three 
distinct parallel holes (whence the generic name). This central 
transperforation is somewhat analogous to the structure of Ste- 
phania-, but there the condyle is thin and disciform, marked by 
a single foramen. The structure in Holopeira is so very pecu- 
liar, and so entirely diflerent from that of Cocculus and Nephroica, 
that I cannot conceive why its generic validity should be dis- 
puted by botanists who, in many other extensive families, have 
recognized far more trivial discrepances. 
Holopeira, nob. — Flores dioici. Masc. Sepala 6, ternatim et al- 
ternatim disposita, spathulato-oblonga, ssepius villosissima, 
exteriora minora, rarius bracteis 1-2 consimilibus donata. 
Petala 6, biseriata, oblonga, imo cuneata, lateribus medio 
utrinque auriculata, lobis introflexis, apice breviter bifida vel 
emarginata, lobis latis, obtusis. Stamina 6, petalis opposita 
et ad ungues affixa; filamenta imo dilatata et interdum vil- 
losa, superne teretia, tenuia et glabra, petalis sequilonga vel 
paulo excedentia ; antherce rotundiuscule 4-lobEe, sine connec- 
tivo 2-loculares, apice fere peltatim aflfixse, subintrorsum flexse, 
rima laterali utrinque 2-valvatim dehiscentes. Ovaria rudi- 
mentaria S, punctiformia. — Foem. Sepala et petala ut in masc. 
Stamina sterilia 6, circa gynaecium hirsutum affixa. Ovaria 3, 
gibba, gynsecio parvo insita, glabra, unilocularia, ovulo unico 
parieti interoo appenso. Stylus nullus. Stigma excentricum, 
iineare, obtusum, horizontaliter deflexum, rugosum, sulco mar- 
ginibus crenulatis superne signatum. Drupce 3, vel abortu 1, 
subglobosae, carnosulae, circa basin stigmate persistente nota- 
tae : putamen reniformi-orbiculatum, trochiforme, paulo com- 
pressum, peripheria carina acuta sulcisque 2 notatum, facie- 
bus radiatim tuberculato-liratis ; condylus excentralis, utrinque 
meatu saepissime amplo margine denticulato profunde vacuus 
et septo intermedio centre pertusus, bine foraminibus 3 pa- 
rallelimdistinctis fere centralibus perforatum; l-loculare,loculo 
quasi annulari circa condylum gyrato, in valvulas 2 facile so- 
lutum. Semen loculo conforme, fere annulare, extus convexum, 
intus subconcavum ; integumentum tenue, ad latus internum 
laxum chalaza notatum, bine intra laminas septi insinuatum 
et condylo affixum : embryo in albumine simplici carnoso 
sepultus, cyclicus, cotyledonibus crassiuscule foliaceis, lineari- 
