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On the Structure of the Ovary of MARLEA and affinities of ALANGIEE ; 
by BENJAMIN CLARKE, Esq. (Pl. V.) 
As it remains hitherto a question whether the ovary of the genus 
Marlea be one- or two-celled, the fine specimen of M. begonifolia grow- 
ing at Kew, which recently produced an abundance of flowers, offered 
a favourable opportunity of examining the structure of the ovary; and 
the circumstance of De Candolle having originally described the fruit of 
the Order Alangiee as one-celled, so differing from Myrtacee, gave an 
additional interest to the inquiry, as being connected with the affinities 
of the Order. 
The result of observations, made with much care, has been, that the 
ovary of Marlea is very rarely one-celled, much less frequently than 
the ovaries of certain plants which are generally regarded as two-celled, 
for example Circea alpina. The stigma, indeed, of M. begonifolia 
is constantly four-lobed (Vide Pl. V. A. f. 1), which would lead to the 
expectation that the ovary was compound, such stigmas not unfre- 
quently indicating four carpels, or two having bifid stigmas. The latter 
{ conclude to be the explanation of the structure in the present instance ; 
for on tracing the dorsal ribs of the ovaries up through the style into 
the stigma (taking the oblong form of the diameter of the canal as a 
guide), it was uniformly found that they corresponded in position, not 
with either of its lobes, but with two opposite fissures (Vide Pl. V. A. 
f. 3, 4,5, 6, 7 and 8). Thus the stigmas of M. begonifolia may be 
considered as bearing some resemblance to those of a Begonia, in com- : 
mon with the leaves, its stigmas being less deeply divided and com- 
bined to a greater extent. 
Another remarkable circumstance connected with the structure of 
the ovary of M. begonifolia is that a canal exists in the style, which is 
continued into the thickened disc, and there divides into two lesser 
canals which diverge and enter the cells of the ovary, passing over the 
funiculi (Vide Pl. V. A. f. 2). The canal and its branches are quite 
pervious throughout, from the stigmas to the cells of the ovary ; and 
this may, perhaps, serve to explain a peculiarity of the nucleus of the 
fruit of 4langiez, viz., that it has a foramen at its apex. 
A structure so uncommon as that of the stigmas of Marlea, among 
epigynous plants, may doubtless, to a certain extent, be employed as 
one of the characters by which to determine the affinity of the Order 
VOL. II. s 
