MR. O, BEaS'THAM OX MYKTACE.T!. 109 



and yet this petiole is always considered part of the leaf. So, 

 again, in the staminal tube of nionadelphous Leguminosae, at an 

 early stage the stamens are usually all quite free and distinct iu a 

 circle round the pistil, and they afterwards become monadelphous, 

 not by the union of any portion once free, but by tlie growth of 

 a ring or tube under them, raising them above the receptacle ; yet 

 I do not believe that any one would propose to describe the sta- 

 minal tube of monadelphous Leguminosse as part of the rece2)tacle 

 and not of the stamens. It is from inattention to this mode of 

 formation that some monadelphous Leguminosse examined in young 

 bud have not been recognized, but published as new genera with 

 free stamens, such, for instance, as Marquartia^ ^^og-? ^^^ Bartlin- 

 gia^ Brongn. 



There only remains to consider whether, as a matter of conve- 

 nience, it may not be better to adopt the name of hypanthium for 

 the united base of the calyx and corolla (or support of the sepals 

 and petals), as we give that of disk to what may be considered 

 an analogous support to the petals and stamens in Disciflorae and 

 Calyciflorse. Considerable confusion of ideas results from calling 

 by different names in different Orders organs which to all appear- 

 ance are the same, unless it be clearly shown that they are not 

 homologous ; and if the various modifications of the calyx in a 

 series commencing with Scrophularinese, and passing through 

 Lythrariese, Melastomaceae, Myrtaeeae, and Rosacea? be compared, 

 it will be very difficult to mark the point where the calyx-tube 

 ceases and the hypanthium commences. The name calyx-tube is 

 correct also if the theory of concretion be adopted, whilst that of 

 hypanthium is not strictly so even on the theory of its being an 

 expansion of the peduncle; it means '^w^hat is under the flower," 

 whilst the gynsecium always, and in many Lythrariea? the andrce- 

 cium also, are within it at the base. It w*ill, moreover, be observed 

 that the characters supplied by this calyx-tube are those of external 

 form and indumentum, in which their analogy with similar parts of 

 other Orders is more essential than their theoretical homology. 



Before quitting the subject of the terminology of the parts of 

 the flower, I would add a few words on the dishy which may be 

 supposed in some points to be analogous to the proposed hypan- 

 thium, but of which the theoretical homology is far more doubtful ; 

 and the modifications of its form and position supply characters 

 so important that it is very useful to have a name for it quite 

 independent of all hypothesis. Theoretically it may be considered 

 either an expansion of the summit of the peduncle, i, e. of the 



