CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
361 
carinated on the margin, on which, close to the base, is seen the 
remnant of the persistent style; and on each flattened face, near 
the carinated margin, is a prominent ring : the putamen is thin 
and coriaceous, quite flat and discoid in the centre of each face, 
where it is marked by a spiral furrow corresponding with the 
line of condyle already described. 
In the ^ plant the inflorescence is in axillary panicles, which 
are as long as the leaves, having a slender rachis provided at each 
of its alternate axils with two slender branches of unequal length, 
all dichotomously divided, the ultimate branchlets bearing two 
equal 1-flowered pedicels, all quite glabrous. The flowers are 
small, consisting of : — six obovate sepals, in two series, the three 
inner being twice the length of the three outer ones; six equal 
oblong petals, one-third the length of the inner sepals, having 
their lateral margins inflected ; six stamens, in two series, the 
length of the petals, the three outer ones free, with slender fila- 
ments, the three inner filaments being united for half their 
length into a monadelphous column ; each stamen provided with 
two free, distinct, erect anther-lobes. 
Spirospermuji, Thouars. — Flores dioici, ubique glabri. Masc. 
Sepala 6, biseriata, obovata, fusco-nigrescentia, quorum 3 
interiora duplo majora. Petala 6, biseriata, sequalia, oblonga, 
sepalis iuterioribus 3-plo brevioribus, lateribus inflexis. Sta- 
mina 6, biseriata, petalis aequilonga ; filamenta filiformia, 
erecta, 3 exteriora libera, 3 altera fere ad medium in columnam 
centralem coalita; anthera didymae, lobis parvis, oblongis, 
liberis, erectis, apice paulo divaricatis, rima laterali longitudi- 
naliter dehiscentibus. — Foem. ignoti. Drupee 9, supra recepta- 
culum parvum crebriter erectae, longiuscule stipitatae, exsiccae, 
orbiculares, valde compressae, basin versus stylo persistente 
notatae, nigrae, rugulosae, glabrae; putamen sarcocarpio sicco 
tenaciter adherente vestitum, orbiculare, valde compressum, 
Carina peripherica tenui latiuscula munitum, utraque facie mar- 
ginem versus lira annulari prominente signatum, disco planum 
et sulco spiral! notatum,tenuiter chartaceum; conc?y^MS internus, 
septiformis, primum angustiis, demum filiformis, a basi ortus, 
deinde ex anfractibus 3 spiraliter convolutis in centro termi- 
natus. Semen loculum implens, exalbuminosum, valde com- 
pressum; integumentum conforme, membranaceum, condylo 
spiral! interseptatum : embryo valde elongatus, pariter teres, 
radicula basi proxima, ad stylum persistentem spectante, coty- 
ledonibus linearibus aceumbentibus vagis paulo breviore. 
Frutex vel sufifrutex Madagascariensis, crebre ramosus ; rami 
longi, teretes, iterum ramosissimi, pendentes, glaberrimi, ramulis 
ultimis pedieellos 2 unifloros gerentibus : floresjoarn, glabri. 
VOU. III. 3 A 
