CLASS OCTANDR1A. 95 



corolla, in the Asiatic plant, has 5 unequal, pubescent 

 petals inserted upon the calyx ; but in the American 

 species orPavias, only 4. The capsule, either smooth 

 or prickly, has 3 cells, and each cell one seed, though 

 2 Out of the 3 are commonly abortive. The seeds re- 

 semble Chesnuts, but are rounder and bitter. On the 

 Ohio they are said to have been employed successfully 

 as a fish poison, and the farina has been made into 

 starch. They are all trees, or large shrubs with digi- 

 tate leaves, bearing flowers in compound thyrsoid ra- 

 cemes. In most of the Pavias the number of stamens 

 fall short of 7, and in the Asiatic species they proba- 

 bly often exceed that number. Indeed 5 or 10 sta- 

 mens is the natural number that might be expected 

 from the rest of the conformation of the flower. 



In the Befaria of Florida, for want of a more de- 

 finite class, placed in Poly anuria, there prevails a 

 very curious combination of septimal parts. The ca- 

 lyx is 7-cleft ; the corolla of 7 petals ; 14 stamens ; 

 and a capsule of 7 cells, with many seeds. But in 

 this instance, as well as the Septas, and the exact 12 

 stamened ^saruWjVvhichhasnotthe irregularity of num- 

 ber characteristic either of Dodecandria, Polyandria, 

 or Icosandria, it seems quite unnecessary to create for 

 them distinct classes on characters which ought to be 

 merely generic. 



0CTANDR1A. 



This class is by no means an extensive one, and 

 several of its genera are allied closely to otheis which 

 find place in Decandria. Among these may be 

 mentioned Rhexia of the natural order Melastoma- 

 ceje, its type, Melastoma, being Decandrous. Most of 

 these plants flowering about midsummer, affect wet 

 places, as the grassy margins of boggy ponds and 



