372 



MR. J. MLERS OK MOQUILEA. 



long, 4£ lines in diameter : the pericarp is fuscous, ^ line thick, 

 is hard, with transverse ligneous cellules ; it contains a single 

 seed, which is erect, nearly as long as the cell, and, though once 

 filling its space, is now reduced in size by drying, being 10 lines long 

 and 2 lines broad. The seed is of a dark brown colour, and when 

 cut open shows in the middle a white embryo, 6 lines long, formed 

 of two extremely thin, almost pellicular cotyledons 4 lines long, 

 1 line broad, the inferior slender radicle being 2 lines long ; after 

 its removal the fleshy envelope in which it was imbedded shows, 

 inside of each half, an impressed figure of the embryo ; as this en- 

 velope shows no indication of a raphe or chalaza, it must be 

 albumen ; for the spiral vessels of the raphe were observed in the 



integument which lines the pericarp. 



The existence of albumen in the seed of Li can ia is not singular 

 in the family, as it exists in Hirtella, as was well demonstrated by 

 Gaertner*; this was acknowledged by DeCandollef. Kunth, in 

 1828 J, considered that the albumen of Gaertner consisted merely 

 of two large foliaceous cotyledons of the embryo, conferruminated 

 together along their margins ; this supposition was adopted by 

 Endlicher in 1840 §. This theory was disproved by my analysis 

 of two species of Hirtella examined by me in a living state : the 

 first was mentioned on a former occasion || ; the second is shown 

 in my analysis of Hirtella Pohlii from the Corcovado : in the 

 latter case the albumen is 6 lines long, 3 lines broad, enclosing an 

 embryo with a small basal radicle and two very thin oblong white 

 cotyledons 3 lines long, 1 line broad. The presence of albumen 

 in the seed of these two species of Hirtella is therefore incon- 

 testable. 



The structure of the fruit of Licania glabra, Mart. (X. costata 

 Spruce) % shows many points of analogy between it and L. pris- 

 rnatocarpa. The drupe is of considerable size, seated upon a 

 peduncle terminated by two minute, recurved, almost obsolete 

 bracts. In the flower the small urceolated calyx grows to a large 

 size. The fruit is ovate, 1\ inch long, 1 inch broad, marked by 8 

 or 10 prominently costate ridges: the ferruginously tomentose 

 pericarp is hard, composed of numerous ligneous cellules ; it 1S 

 unilocular, and contains a nucleus considerably reduced in size by 

 drying, and is attached to the base of the cell by a small hilum. 





* Fruptus, lil. p. 40, tab. 185. 

 % H. B. K tj. p. 274, tab. 565. 

 || Journ. Linn. Soc. 



t Prodr. ii. p. 528. 

 . Gen. Plant, p. 1 252. 

 % Fl. Bras. fasc. 42, p. 10. 



