J 92 TETRANDRIAo MONOGYNIA. symplocarp«j^ 



" Corculum small, involute, erect, umbilicately attached to s 

 large carneous perisperm."t ^« 1 1. 

 Hab. In swamps, wet meadows, and along brooks. The c6« 

 loured spath appears above ground, in this vicinity, about the 

 last of February. Towards the latter end of March, the invo- 

 luted stipulps and leaves appear, soon after which the latter 

 expand, and grow to a very large size. The whole plant pos- 

 sesses a remarkable fetid odour, somewhat resembling that of 

 tsafaetids^. 



ORDER IL 

 D I G Y N I A. 



127. HAMAMELIS. L. 



t'dyx 4-cleft, with 3 bracts (involucrum, L.) at the 

 base. Petals 4, linear, very long. Nut coriaceous^ 

 2-celled, 2-homecl, cleft at the top. Seed 1 in each 

 cell. Gen. pi. 226. Nu 1 1. Gen. I. p. 107. Ju s s. 

 p. 228. Lam. III. t. LXXXVIII. f. 1. Roem. ^ 

 Schiilt. Gen. 58^. "Nsd. Ord. BerbefLibes Jus s. 

 RuBiACE^ (^M. ^ S.J flitch Hazel. 



H. virginica L- : leaves obovate, acute, dentate, cor- 

 date, with the sinus small. W il I d. Spec I. p. 701 • M i c h. 

 i'/. 1. p. too. P iirsh Fl.\.^.\\6. B i g. Bost. ^. AO. 

 Elliott SA:. I. 219. Wang. Amer. ^. 89. t. 29, f. 62^ 

 Gron. Virg. 139. Cold. J^oveb. p. 18. Roem. ^ 

 Schult. ni. p. 483. H. mondiciij dibica, tt androgyfiai 

 Walt. Car. ^^255. 



I " The seed of the STMPtocARprs does not appear to possess any thing' 

 like a proper cotyledon ; the embryo formed in the exact posture of the 

 growing- plant (witli the radical downwards) differs not from it in any par- 

 ticular but that of size. In place of a Cotyledon, there is a sheathing sti- 

 pule similar to that which is ever afterward prodcced ; in fact, it is viva,- 

 parous. The embryon is seated in a small umbilical or henaispherical de-- 

 pfession, in the upper end of what may be called a ritellus rather than a 

 perisperm, judging from its functions ; the callus or seminal tubercle is 

 roundish and turbinate, nearly as large as a filbert nut, very solid and car- 

 neous, possessing in a high degree the alliaceous fetor of the grown plant. 

 The mutual point of attachment between this body and the embryon is at 

 first a minute and nearly central funiculus, which' enlarges and becomes 

 more distinct during the process of germination ; but what appears to be 

 most sin.e;ular in it, is the length of time which it continues attached to 

 the growing plant, apparently inert at the base of the casidcs for twdvc 

 or even eighteen montirs." A*w tta I'l. 



