484 POLYGAMIA. 



1. Monoecia. United flowers accompanied 

 with barren or fertile, or both, all on one 

 plant. Atriplex, Engl. Bot. t. 261, 232, 

 &c., is an instance of this, having the bar- 

 ren flowers of 5 regular spreading seg- 

 ments, the united ones of 2 compressed 

 valves, which, becoming greatly enlarged, 

 protect the seed. In several species how- 

 ever the flowers are none of them united, 

 each having only stamens or only pistils. 

 Throughout the rest of the Order, as it 

 stands m Linnaeus and Schreber, I can 

 find no genus that has the requisite charac- 

 ter. Some of the grasses indeed have awns 

 to one kind of flower only, but that part is 

 too uncertain to establish a character upon ; 

 and this family is so natural in itself, and 

 so liable to variations in the perfecting of 

 its flowers or florets, that there can be no 

 doubt of the propriety of classing its genera 

 simply by the number of their stamens and 

 styles, which are very constant. 



2. Dioecia. The different flowers on two 

 different plants. I can scarcely find a cer- 



