[From “Wing's Southern Science Record.”
(new series), foe February, 188G.

Vol. ii

V)escrtvtion of a new Papuan vacciniaceops Plant :
By Baron Feud, vox Ml iu.i.ku . K.C.M.G., M.D., Pli.D.,
F.R.S., T.G.S., F.C.8. &c.

Agape fee Moo Aw ux iana.

(Dimorphsinthera, Moorhousiana.)

Branch lets beset with dark short spreading hairs ; leaves on
short stalks, ovate-lanceolar, eiitire, acuminate, flat, glabrous
except at the base, paler beneath, two of the longitudinal nerves
on each side of the midrib more prominent beneath, main areoles
of veins largo ; pedicels about as long as the flowers, thinly fili-
form, glabrous, bearing two minute bracteoles above the base ;
calyx small, its tube hemispheric, not angular; limb entire, ex-
panding ; corolla red, rather membranous, almost bell-shaped,
outside slightly downy ; lobes nearly deltoid, much shorter than
the tube ; stamens about three times shorter than the corolla,
five larger, alternating with as many smaller, all in one row ;
filaments closely approximated, but disconnected, flat, pubescent ;
anthers hardly longer than the filaments, the large) 1 bifid to the
middle and two-celled, the smaller undivided and one-celled, tho
cells turgid, acute at the base and summit, each opening at its
upper part anteriorly by a largo pore; style glabrous, about us
long as the corolla; stigma truncated; epigenous disk annular
velvety; ovary five-celled, with very numerous ovules in each
cell.

South-eastern Mew Guinea; Rev. James Chalmers.

Probably an epiphyte. Leaves (two only seen) about 3 inches
long and nearly one inch broad, of chartaceous consistence when
dry, die longitudinal nerves starting from the lower portion of
the midrib. Flowers probably in fascicles, unless solitary.
Stalklets of flowers about one inch long, jointed with the calyx.
Bracteoles ovato-lauceolar. F! w big calyx not fully •} inch
wide. -Corolla about inch glabrous inside. Filaments

of the larger stamens considvrabiy b’oader than the other.
Anthers towards their base urmfixed, yellowish, hardly J inch
oug. the larger almost, obcordare-sagittate ; the connective not

extending beyond the sinus ; the cells of all nearly four times
longer than broad, without any appendages ; the single cells of
the smaller anthers interjacent to those 1 of the larger on each
side, the whole closely fitting (while the stamens are in bud) into
one continuous mass, the pores of the larger anthers mutually
contiguous, and the single pore of the small anther also in
immediate approach beneath. (style very slender, sometimes
twisted at the base. Placentas and ovules normal, Ripe fruit
unknown.

Biformous anthers are not on record among Vacciniece, except
in Agapetes amblyoruidis and A. meliphagidum, concerning which
Dr. Bcccari noted (Mulesia 1, 208 and 2(>9) similarly dimorphous
stamens, attributing however two contiguous cells to the smaller
anthers of those plants. I have therefore left this new species
though reluctantly in the genus Agapetes, as the fruit also
remains unknown. Nevertheless it would he best, to separate
these three Papuan plants under the generic appellation Di-
morphanthera. The five shorter one-celled anthers of our plant
resemble much those of the Audiue genus Macltania, which like-
wise has the calyx-limb undivided. From l). amblyornidk our
plant differs specifically in much shorter petioles, smaller leaves
and (lowers, and further in the calyces not being distinctly denti-
culated, probably also in the fruit From 1). meUphagidum ours is
more distinct, thus it has neither the prolongation of the connec-
tive of the anthers. Dr. Beccari mentions that thc- e kinds of
plants are much frequented by honey-sucking birds.

At the verge of the departure of the Right Reverend Dr.
Moorhouse,— who during the last ten years has been the highly
esteemed Lord Bishop of Melbourne, — for the See of Manchester,
the lovely plant, just recorded, is offered as a phvtologic souv-
enir to this distinguished prelate, and named in grateful appre-
ciation of much generous seutimeut extended also to the writer.

.jC.