106 Mr. Babington on Valerianella olitoria and V. gibbosa. 



fruit has been made. It is scarcely necessary to state^ that in 

 the fully ripe fruit alone can the curious distinctive characters 

 employed in this genus be satisfactorily ascertained. 



In V. olitoria the transverse section of the fruit shows three 

 cells ; one^ nearly filled by the solitary ripe seed, has its out- 

 side enormously thickened by the development of the sarco- 

 carp into a spongy or corky mass, down the back of which 

 there is usually a slight furrow ; and two barren cells, which 

 are quite empty and separated from each other by an imper- 

 fect dissepiment. These barren cells are nearly equal, com- 

 pressed, lateral and rounded in front, and are usually much 

 larger than the fertile cell ; their point of junction is usually 

 marked by a shallow furrow, and each of them has a single 

 slender rib upon its side. The presence or absence of the an- 

 terior and posterior furrows, and the greater or less develop- 

 ment of the spongy mass, must be excluded from the specific 

 characters, as not being possessed of sufficient constancy for 

 scientific discrimination. 



In the fruit of V, gibbosa we find the same three cells and 

 the same spongy furrowed mass upon the back of the fertile 

 one, but each of the barren cells is furnished w^ith two longi- 

 tuduial prominent ribs formed of the same spongy structure 

 as the back of the fertile cell. Thus each side of the fruit pre- 

 sents two deep furrows and two prominent ribs, whilst in V. 

 olitoria the furrows are totally wanting and the ribs are re- 

 duced to the one slender line upon each barren cell and the 

 shghtly projecting angle of the fertile cell. 



It is hoped that there will not now^ remain any doubts con- 

 cerning the specific distinctness of these two plants. It only 

 remains for me to state that the drawings represent the appear- 

 ance presented after the fruit has been divided transversely 

 at about its middle. 



Fig.l. Fig. 2. 



h. 



Fig. 1 . Valeriana gibbosa from Sicily. 



Fig. 2. V. olitoria (a) from an English, (6) from a Neapolitan specimen. 



St. John's Coll., Cambridge, March 8, 1842. 



