Mr Don on the Affinities of the EmpetrecB. 61 



branch bears an anther of the usual structure, which, toge- 

 ther with the central one, augments the number to 10. In the 

 female flower, the styles are 3, united at the base, and the stig- 

 mas are divided into two lobes. The fruit is 3-sided and 3-cell- 

 ed, each cell containing two seeds placed parallel, and opening 

 at the angle by a longitudinal suture ; these sutures are imme- 

 diately perpendicular to the styles, and placed opposite the ex- 

 terior segments of the calyx. I ought to have before remarked, 

 that the form and structure of the anthers of Euphorbia and 

 Empetre(K are exactly similar. The monophyllous calyx ; the 

 non-separation of the sexes ; the presence of a perigynous disk ; 

 and the flat, somewhat foliaceous cotyledons, — appear to separate 

 sufficiently the Celastrina from the Empetrea. The distinc- 

 tions between them and the Rhamneie are still more apparent, 

 however ; for in them, the stamens are placed opposite the pe- 

 tals, and the aestivation of the calyx is valvular, — characters of 

 primary importance in a natural classification. The embryo in 

 RhamnecB and Celastrijiae agrees exactly in form and structure. 

 Mr Brown has very properly placed Phylica among the Rham- 

 nece, although I have known some who, merely from the fruit 

 being inferior, were disposed to remove it from that family. It 

 is evidently intimately alHed to Pomaderris, both in habit and 

 characters, and it is equally evident, that the fruit being infe- 

 rior, is a distinction more apparent than real ; for in Pomader- 

 ris, and even in some species of Rhamnus, the tube of the ca- 

 lyx coheres with the ovarium ; and could we, for example, sup- 

 pose an equal elongation of the tube of the calyx in these, as 

 in Phylica, we should then have the situation of the fruit pre- 

 cisely the same. The apparently simple stigma in Phylica is 

 not very different from the triple one of Pomaderris ; for there 

 is evidently an indication of three distinct lobes. 



I' 



EMPETRE^, Nutt. 



ErICEIS AFFINIA, JuSS. 



Flores dioici. 



Masc. — Calt/x 3- (raro 2-) phyllus, aestivatione imbricata, basi nu- 

 dus V. squamis (4-6) duplici ordine imbricatis munitus. Pe- 

 tala 3 (raro 2) hypogyna, foliolis calycinis alterna, ungui brevi, 



