283 



3. Lepidocauya. Spathes numerous, incomplete. Flowers in cat- 

 kfns. Ovarium 3-celled. Berry 1-seeded, with a tessellated rind. (Mau- 

 ritia, Calamus.) 



4. BoRASsE.T.. Spathes many, incomplete. Flowers in catkins. Ova- 

 rium 3-celled. Berry or drupe 3-seeded. (Borassus, Hyphaene.) 



5. Arecinvt:. Spatha none, or one or more, complete. Ovarium 3- 

 celled. Berry 1-seeded. (Leopoldinia, Areca, Wallichia.) 



6. CocoiN-T,. Spatha one, or several, complete. Ovarium 3-celled. 

 Drupe 1-3-seeded. (Cocos, Elate, Bactris.) 



CCLIII. RESTIACE^. 



Restiace^, R. Brou-n Prodr. 243. (1810) ; Kunth in Humh. N. G. et Sp. 1. 251. (1815) ; 

 Agardh Aph. 15(). (1823) a sect, of Junceee ; Ach. Rich. Nouv. Elim. ed. 4. 424. 



(1828); Lindl. Si/nops. 272. (1829) Centrolepide.ts and ERioCAULONEiE, 



Desvaux in Ann. des Sc. 13. 36. (1828). — Elegie^e, Beauv. in eod. loc. (1828.) 



Diagnosis. Hexapetaloideous monocotyledons, with a superior ova- 

 rium, axile placentse, capsular fruit, capitate glumaceous flowers, and an 

 fembryo lying on the albumen at the end most remote from the hilum. 



Anomalies. Willdenowia has drupaceous fruit. 



Essential Character Perianthium inferior, 2-6-parted, seldom wanting. Sta' 



mens definite, 1-6; when they are from 2 to 3 in number, and attached to a perianthium 

 of 4 or G divisions, they are then opposite the inner segments (petals) ; anthers usually 

 unilocular. Ovarium 1- or more celled, cells monospermous ; ovules pendulous. Fruit 

 capsular, or nucaraentaceous. Seeds inverted ; albumen of the same figure as the seed ; 

 embryo lenticular, on the outside of the albumen, at that end of the seed which is most 

 remote from the hilum. — Herbaceous plants or under-shrttbs, Leaves' simple, narrow, or 

 none. Culms naked, or more usually protected by sheaths, which are slit, and have equi- 

 tant margins. Flowers generally aggregate, in spikes or heads, separated by bracteae, and 

 most frequently unisexual. R. Br. (1810). 



Affinities. The principal character distinguishing this family from 

 Junceee and Cyperacese consists in its lenticular embryo being placed at the 

 extremity of the seed opposite to the umbilicus. From Juncese it also differs 

 in the order of suppression of its stamina, which, when reduced to 3, are 

 opposite to the inner laciniae of the perianthium ; and most of its genera 

 are distinguishable from both these orders, as well as from Commelinese, 

 by their simple or unilocular anthers. Brown in Flinders, 579. To this 

 may be added, that its habit is rather that of Cyperacese, especially when 

 Xyridese are excluded. From all the orders with spadiceous characters, the 

 glumaceous nature of its perianthium, when it is present, distinguishes it. 

 If the perianthium is absent, it is then only to be known from Cyperacese 

 by the position of the embryo, and by the sheaths of its leaves being slit. 

 M. Desvaux separates from the genera with a perianthium those in which 

 the flowers are actually naked, under the name of Ceutrolepideoe : he further 

 adopts the supposed order of Eriocaulonea^ of the late M. de Beauvois, 

 which seems to differ from Restiacese simply in having 1-seeded cells in the 

 capsule, and irregular flowers. The Elegieae of M. de Beauvois were distin- 

 guished by nothing but their 2 or 3 styles. While I adopt the opinion of all 

 these being parts of the same natural order, I cannot doubt that the tripe- 

 taloid flower and polyspermous fruit of Xyris, characters indicating a far 

 superior degree of evolution, are sufficient to separate that genus as the 

 representative of a peculiar order; a measure which Mr. Brown appears 

 to have anticipated when he remarked (Prodr. 244.), that the genus Xyris, 



