370 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
Bras, xxxviii. 169, tab. 37. fig. 1 ; — ramulis crassiusculis, valde 
fistulosis, striatis, compressis, tomentosis ; foliis magnis, ob- 
longis, imo obtusis aut acutioribus, sursum gradatim angus- 
tioribus, apice subacutis et mucronatis, e basi 5-nerviis, nervis 
extus ramosis, transversini venosis et cum aliis superioribus 
arcuatim nexis, textura flaccida submembranaceis, glaberrimis, 
supra viridibus, subtus brunnescenti-glaucis, nervis venlsque 
utrinque prominulis, striatis et lucentibus ; petiolo tereti, 
striato, rigido, glabro, nitente, apice subincrassato, limbo vix 
breviore : paniculis ^ supra-axillaribus, solitariis aut binis, 
brevissimis, tomentosis; pedunculo ebracteato, petiolo 10-plo 
breviore, apice iterum trichotome corymbuloso, ramis bre- 
vibus, ramulis pedicellisque brevissimis aut fere obsoletis ; 
floribus parvis, pubescentibus, fere sessilibus, bine subcapitato- 
approxirnatis. — In Guiana Brasiliana : v. s. in herb, variis, Rio 
Negro et Rio Solimoes (Spruce, 1538). 
This is evidently a climbing plant, with compressed fistulose 
branches, 2|-3 lines thick, with internodes 1^ inch long; the 
leaves are 8-1 1 inches long, 4|-6^ inches broad, on a petiole 
5-5^ inches long : the peduncle of the corymbulose panicle is 
only 4-6 lines long, its three primary branches 1 line long, 
their three branchlets very short, each bearing three flowers on 
pedicels barely ^ line long ; the flower in bud is globose, f line 
in diameter; its parts are arranged as stated in the generic 
diagnosis. 
56. Synclisia. 
This genus was established by Mr. Bentham in his ‘ Genera 
Plantarum ’ (i. 36) ; it is one of African origin and of much in- 
terest. Although nothing is known of its female flower or of 
its seminal structure, it is there placed in the same section as 
Tiliacora and Abuta, both very peculiar genera, remarkable for 
their seeds with deeply ruminated albumen and a very long, 
naiTow, hippocrepiform embryo. The only apparent ground 
for this arrangement is the valvate sestivation of its inner whorl 
of sepals; but with equal or even greater reason it might be 
placed among the Pachygonece, near another African genus, 
Triclisia, in which the inner sepals have also a valvate sestivation 
and at their lower edges, though not agglutinated, adhere closely 
together by their tomentose margins, and the stamens are 
likewise partly monadelphous. Until its seed be known, it 
appears to me much safer to place it among the genera of doubt- 
ful position. One of its chief peculiarities is the agglutination 
of the inner whorl of sepals, for more than half their length, 
into a cylindrical 3-lobed tube, in which respect it bears some 
