NOTES. 
THE GENUS MELANANTHUS, Walpers.— In 1850 Dr. 
J. Walpers described (Botanische Zeitung, viii. p. 788) a Brazilian 
plant under the name of Melananthus dipyrenoides , which he designated 
( novum genus ex ordine Phrymacearum.’ Bentham and Hooker 
(Genera Plantarum, ii. p. 1137) refer to it among the ‘genera dubia ’ 
of the Verbenaceae, suggesting that it might be a species of Lippia . 
RecentlyDr.P.Taubert described and figured (Engler’s Botanische Jahr- 
bucher,xii. Beiblatt 1, p. 15, t. 1 A,fig. 2,<2-<r) a plant which he identified 
with Walpers’s Melananthus , and no doubt correctly, I should say, 
judging from the very full description referred to above. On seeing 
the figure, I was at once struck by its very strong resemblance to 
Microschwenkia of Bentham, published in the Botany of the Biologia 
Centrali-Americana (ii. p. 438, t. 67, A. f. 1-5), and on comparing 
the figures and descriptions I was convinced that the two plants were 
of the same genus, and in all probability the same species, though the 
one was from Brazil and the other from Guatemala. Mr. Bentham 
had placed Microschwenkia in Solanaceae, next to Schwenkia, doubtless 
on account of its being so very much like his Schwenkia fasciculata , 
described in De Candolle’s Prodromus (x. p. 195), where, however, 
neither the ovary nor the fruit is mentioned. But the strangest thing 
of all is, that Schwenkia fasciculata is the very same plant. Of course, 
if Bentham had examined the ovary he would never have placed this 
plant in Schwenkia , because it has a one-celled ovary with one erect 
ovule, and a one-seeded fruit dehiscing in two valves; whereas in 
Schwenkia the fruit is two-celled with several or many seeds in each 
cell. 
The synonomy runs thus : — -Melananthus dipyrenoides , Walpers, syn. 
Schwenkia fasciculata , Bentham, and Microschwenkia guatemalensis, 
Bentham. It inhabits Brazil and Guatemala, and probably the inter- 
vening country, for as it is a very inconspicuous plant, it may have 
been overlooked. Vauthier, Gardner (5567), and Glaziou (5856 and 
£>349) collected it in Brazil, and Bernoulli in Guatemala. The 
specimen collected in the latter country is a poor starved one. 
L 
