158 Mr. Gardner's Description o/'Peltophyllum, 



the great breadth of the connective separating the lobes of the one so much 

 that they approximate those of the others in such a manner as to give them 

 the appearance of belonging to the same anther. In Peltophyllum, the great 

 probability is that there are six stamens, judging from the number of the di- 

 visions of the perigonium ; as we generally find that in those natural orders 

 in which this organ consists of six divisions, the stamens are six also. This 

 is more particularly the case when the two whorls which constitute it are so 

 closely united that they adhere by their margins, as, for example, in many of 

 the genera of the natural order Liliacece. In Pontederiacece we find in the 

 genus Heteranthera that the perigonium, although somewhat tubular, consists 

 of two very distinct whorls, and there the stamens are three in number, placed 

 opposite to the three inner segments ; while in Pontederia, where the perigo- 

 nium has the two whorls more blended into one, the six divisions have each a 

 stamen placed opposite to them. Even in the same genus, where the whorls 

 of the perigonium are upon the same plane, we find that the stamens follow 

 the number of its divisions, as in Paris, where they both vary from eight to 

 ten ; and in Smilacina, where they vary from four to six. 



Mr. Miers was inclined to place Triuris near to Juncaginece or Fluviales, 

 from some of the genera of these orders being occasionally dioecious ; and 

 from Posidonia, which belonged to the latter, having three approximate pairs 

 of sessile anthers on a receptacle. In all other respects, however, these orders 

 differ most essentially from Triuris. When I collected Peltophyllum, I was at 

 that time inclined to consider it as nearly related to Menispermacece, from a 

 hurried glance at the structure of its flowers, but more from the great resem- 

 blance which its leaves bear to those of some of the peltate-leaved species of 

 Cissampelos. A more accurate examination of its structure, while it confirms 

 the above analogy, inclines me to place it, and of course Triuris, along with 

 Smilacece, and the other orders of that group, to which Dr. Lindley, in the 

 second edition of his < Introduction to the Natural System of Botany/ has 

 given the name of Retosce ; and more recently, in his ' Elements of Botany,' 

 that of Dictyogens. This group of plants forms evidently the bond of union 

 between the Endogenous and Exogenous divisions of the vegetable kingdom ; 

 on the one hand, agreeing in their vegetation with the latter, and on the other, 

 in their fructification with the former. 



