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longiora, marginibus sinuato-undulatis, vel subdentatis, nervis tenuibus reticulatis, in axillis gemmas floresve
gerentla. Flot-es valde immaturi tautum mihi visi, parvi, brevissime pedunculati ; pedunculi basi v. supra basin
bibracteolati, bracteolis parvis lanceolatis acutis. Calycis tubus oblongus ; limbus inæqualiter 5-lobus, tubo
brevior, lobis ovato-subulatis acutis, superiore majore basi utrinque et duobus proximis basi extus auriculatis,
2 interioribus minoribus. Corolla profunde 5-loba, lobis æstivatione valvatis virido-purpurcis. Stamina lobis
corollæ alterna, filamentis crassis, antheris cohærentibus, 2 superioribus ad apicem 3-4 setosis, seta intermedia
longiore. Ovarium biloculare. loculis multiovulatis ; ovulis anatropis, funiculis brevibus. Stylus apice bifidus,
lobis brevibus extus puberulis v. pilosis. Bacca subglobosa, obscure bisulcata, v. bìloba, lobo superiore majore
basi gibboso, segmentis calycinis coronata, sub 4 lin. longa, bilocularis, parietibus carnosis rubro-purpureis
veuosis, dissepimento carnoso ad medium incrassato placentifero. Seinina numerosissima, funiculis brevibus
dissepimento adnata, ascendentia, parva, ovalia, testa crustácea atra nitida, nunc brunnea, seu castanea, albumine
caraoso. Embìyo minimus, ortlrotropus, pyriformis, radícula tereti cnxssa obtusa hilo próxima, cotyledonibus
brevibus.
A very distinct species, of which I much regi'et that I have not more satisfactory specimens which would
allow of an examination of the expanded flowers. The peduncles of the bud and of the berry are so remarkably
short, as at once to point out this as very distinct from any others of the genus ; and it further differs from
all the other round-leaved species in the size and obscure toothing of the leaves, their very short petioles, and
in the red-purple colour of the berries. It is most nearly aUied to the P . angulata (vide infra).
Haring had the opportunity of examining some species of Pratia in Herb. Hooker. I shall here append the
characters of all that are known to me as certainly belonging to this genus* ; besides which, there are several
* P R A T IA , Gaud.
§ I. Lobis calycinis 3 v. pluribus bast auriculatis.
1. P. arenaria. Hook. fil. ; vide supra.
H ab. Auckland Islands.
2. P. Cunninghamii \ ramis ascendentibus, foliis subdistichis sessilibus ovato-lanceolatis v. oblongo-ovatis
obtusis obtuse repando-serratis coriaceo-carnosis, pedunculis folio l brevioribus, bacca ovato-globosa submem-
branacea, seminibus testa coriacea pallide brunnea areolata v. granulata.—Isolobus ? Cunninghamii, Alph. DeC.
in Prodr. vol. rii. p. 354. Lobelia inundata, Cunn. M S S . {non Br.) an Lob. concolor, Brown, Prodr. p. 563 ?
Pratia erecta. Gaud, in Freycin. Voy. Bot. p. 456 ?
Var. /S. longipes', pedunculis folio æquilongis longioribusve.
H ab. New Holland; morasses on the banks of tbe VPQuarrie River: Frazer. Lowlands about the
Hunter River ; A . Cunningham.
/3. Inundated banks of the Lachlan River; A. Cunningham.
§ II. Lobis calycinis basi nudis, seu auriculis nullis.
3. P. repens. Gaud. ; ramis repentibus radicantibus, foliis erectis longe petiolatis carnosis subcordato-orbi-
culatis sinuato-dentatis, pedunculis crassis petiolo æquilongis bi- tri-bracteolatis, bacca globosa carnosa, seminibus
pallide fuscis.—P. repens, Gaud, in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. v. p. 103. Voy. Freyc. pp. 134 and 456. t. 79. D'Urv.
Fl. Ins. Mai. in Mém. Linn. Soc. Paris, vol. iv. p. 608. Alph. DeC. in Prodr. vol. vii. p. 340.
H ab. Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, and S. Chili, on the east and west side of the Andes.
I have not retained the var. Urvilleana, Alph. DeC. 1. c., because in my specimens the calycine segments are
other New Zealand and New Holland solitary.flowcred creeping Lohelmcea: with unilabiate corollas, but in the
absence of any specimens with fruit I am unwilling to add them here.
The genus Pratia was established by M, Gaudichaud on a species detected by himself in the Falkland
Islands, the P. repens, which was first described in Ann. Sc, Nat, vol. v. p. 103 (anno 182.5); but the original
discoverers of the genus were Bunks and Solander, who, during Captain Cook’s first voyage, gathered the P .
angulata in New Zealand (in 1769) ; to the species of M. Gaudichaud there was first added another from La
Plata by M. Cliamisso (Linntea, vol. viii. p. 212), and more lately what appears to me a truly distinct species was
published as a variety of this last, under the name of P . hnieracea, fS. elliptica(vide Hook. Bot. Journ. vol. i, p. 278).
I have seen the fruit of all these except the P. hederacea, and they agree with the characters of Pratia. In 1839
M. Alph. DeCandolle removed the P ratia begonifolia, Wall., and erected it into a separate genus, Piddingtonia,
mainly on account of the 2.1ipped corolla; besides this character of the corolla, which has the two outer lobes
; l i
very variable in length, as is the corolla itself and the tube of the calyx in shape, the form of the latter depending
upon the greater or less maturity of the seeds.
4. P. hederacea, Cham. ; ramis repentibus, foliis petiolatis membranaceis late ovatis rotundatisve crenato-
dentatis basi subcordatis, petiolis limbo longioribus, pedicellis folio longioribus, corolla filamentisque intus basi
villosis.—Chamisso in Linnea, vol. viii. p. 212. Alph. DeC. in Prodr. vol. vii. p. 340.
H ab. South Brazil and Uraguay ; Chamisso, Gaudichaud.
Having only seen a solitary but authentically-named specimen of this (communicated from Herb. reg.
Berol.), I have no opportunity of dissecting the flowers : in the villous tube of the corolla it differs from all the
other species I am acquainted with.
5. P. elliptica ; caule repente, ramis erectis prostratisve, foliis distichis brevissime petiolatis oblongis obtusis
remote repando-dentatis dentibus obtusis, pedunculis folio longioribus fructiferis valde elongatis, capsula membranacea
elongato-pyriformi, seminibus parvis, testa Isevi pallide brunnea.—P. hederacea, /3. elliptica, Alph.
DeC. in Prodr. vol. vii. p. 340. Lob. hederacea, /3. elliptica. Hook. 8( A m . Bot. Journ. vol. i. p. 277. L. odorata,
/3. Graham, in Edinb. New Phil. Journ. fo r 1831.
H ab. Buenos Ayres and mouth of La Plata River, in marshy places ; Ttveedie.
The authors of ‘ Contributions to a Flora of South America’ remark, that the fruit does not seem to differ
from that of a true Lobelia ; but the only seed-vessel I have examined seems truly indehiscent, and the corolla is
most distinctly unilabiate. It is very different from the true P. hederacea, a plant those authors were not then
acquainted with, and in many respects, especially in the distichous leaves, it resembles the P. Cunninghamii.
6. P. angulata ; ramis prostratis elongatis basi radicantibus apicibus adscendentibus, foliis petiolatis ovato-
obiongis v. ovato-rotundatis obtusis repando-dentatis, pedunculis gracilibus folio multoties longioribus, seminibus
testa pallide brunnea minute punctata.—Lobelia angulata, Forst. Prodr. n. 309. A. Richard, Flor. Nov. Zel.
p. 227. A. Cunn. Prodr. Flor. Nov. Zel. in Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 50. L. littoralis, R . Cunn. in A . Cunn.
Prodr. Flor. Nov. Zel. 1. c.
H ab. New Zealand ; Northern and Middle Islands in moist places.
This is a very variable plant in the size of the leaves, corolla and berries.
7. P. ? Boliviensis, Alph. DcC. in Prodr. vol. vii. p. 340.
H ab. Bolivia.
Of this species I know nothing.
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