402 RUSSELL— A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF 



years since investigated without being able to determine its place in the 

 natural system. Examination proved these two plants to be so nearly 

 akin, that they might perhaps be included in the same genus. They 

 are here, however, separated and the two genera are considered as form- 

 ing a family distinct from all those at present known. 



"The place of the new family (Limnantheae) is not absolutely deter- 

 mined, but it is suggested that in two remarkable points of its structure, 

 namely, the presence of glands subtending the alternate filaments and 

 the existence of a gynobase it more nearly approaches to h^pog^nous 

 famiUes than to perigynous with which it has hitherto been associated. 



"The following are the characters of the natural order, and of the two 

 genera forming it: — 



Limnantheae 



Flos completus, regularis. Calyx 3-5 partitus, aestivatione valvata 

 persistens. Petala 3-5, marcescentia. Stamina 6-10 insertione ambigua 

 (hypo-perigyna) marcescentia. Filamenta distincta, 3-5 sepaUs opposita 

 basi extus glandula munita. Ovaria 2-5, sepalis opposita, cum 

 stylo communi 2-5- fido mediante gynobasi connexa, monosperma, 

 ovulo erecto, nucleo inverso. Achenia subcarnosa. Semen exal- 

 buminosum. Embryo rectus; radicula infera. Herbae (Americae sep- 

 tentrionalis, paludosae) glaberrimae, alternifoliae exstipulatae, foliis 

 divisis; pedunculis unifloris ebracteatis, apice dilatato basin turbinatum 

 calycis simulante. 



Limnanthes 



Calyx 5 partitus. Petala 5, calyce longiora, aestivatione contorta. 

 Stamina 10, ovaria 5. Herba {Limnanthes Douglas! I Americae occi- 

 dental! boreahs.) foliis bipinnatifidis, pinnis sub-oppositis segmentis 

 alternis. 



Floerkea, Willdenow 



Calyx 3 partitus. Petala 3 calyce breviora. Stamina 6. Ovaria 2 

 (raro 3) Herba (Americae orientali boreaUs). Foliis pinnatifidis seg- 

 mentis indivisis. " 



Since the time when the above was written, it has been variously 

 placed, some including it under the Geraniaceae as a sub -order Lim- 

 nantheae (1). Others directly absorb it into the Geraniaceae (5). Recent 

 authors accept Robert Brown's views, keeping it as a separate family (1). 

 Some authors consider the two genera to be so closely allied as to com- 

 pose one genus only; naming it from the first described genus of the 

 family Floerkea (5). 



