16 Mr. Brown, on the Proteacee of Jussieu. 
who, however, have frequently neglected it in practice: nor do 
I find any one who has steadily kept it in view, except Aubert 
Du Petit-Thouars in his excellent work on the plants of Mada- 
gascar and the Isles of France and Bourbon. 
The bursting of the anthere has, it is true, been generally 
observed, and many of its most unusual modes have been in- 
troduced into the characters of genera; but the examination of 
these organs, at a still earlier period, has been universally neg- 
lected; and hence the very imperfect knowledge which, even 
now, is possessed of their real nature in two of the most re- 
markable families of plants, the Orchidex and Asclepiadez. 
Examples of the great advantage of observing the antherz in 
this early stage will hereafter be given in my general remarks on 
the order which is the proper subject of this essay. But I trust 
I shall be pardoned for here introducing some account of their 
structure in Asclepiadez, as it will enable me not only to bring 
forward the most striking proof of the importance of this consi- 
deration with which I am acquainted, but also, as I apprehend, 
to decide a question which has long occupied, and continues to 
divide, the most celebrated botanists. 
The point in dispute is whether this order, comprehending 
Asclepias, Cynanchum, Pergularia, Stapelia, and several genera, 
at present confounded with these, ought to be referred to Pentan- 
dria or Gynandria, and, if to the latter, whether the antherz are 
to be considered as five or ten; all of which opinions have had 
advocates of the greatest name in the science. - 
According to Linnzus, Jussieu and Richard they belong to 
Pentandria. - i pi pnr get d 
Linnzus has assigned no reason for his opinion, which, how- 
| ever, it appears he retained after he became acquainted with the 
observations of Jacquin and Rottboell; but it is probable he . 
| | was 
