186 



merly advanced respecting the nature of this disk in certain families, — namely, 

 that it is composed of a series of modified stamina, — has not the part in ques- 

 tion a considerable resemblance, in apparent origin and division, to the stamina, 

 of the nearly-related family Stylideae % To render this supposition somewhat 

 less paradoxical, let the comparison be made especially between the indusium 

 of Brunonia and the imperfect anthers in the pistilliferous flowers of Forstera. 

 Lastly, connected with this view, it becomes of importance to ascertain whether 

 the stamina in Stylidese are opposite to the segments of calyx or of corolla. The 

 latter disposition would be in favour of the hypothesis. This, however, is a point 

 which will not be very easily determined, the stamina being lateral. In the 

 mean time, the existence and division of the corona faucis in Stylidium render it 

 not altogether improbable that they are opposite to the segments of the corolla." 

 R. Brown in Lin. Trans. 12. 134. I am rather inclined to consider the indu- 

 sium analogous to the collecting hairs of Campanulacese. Tn these they oc- 

 cupy the surface of the greater part of the style ; in Lobelia they are ar- 

 ranged in a whorl, forming a cup-like fringe ; and in Goodenoviae the hairs, 

 being still whorled, are consolidated into a uniform substance by their mutual 

 cohesion. 



Geography. Natives of New Holland, and other islands of the South Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



Properties. Unknown. 



Examples. Goodenia, Velleia, Leschenaultia, 



CLXXVII. STYLIDlEiE 



Stylideje, R. Brown Prodr. 565. (1810.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous gynandrous dicotyledons. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character.— Calyx superior, with from 2 to 6 divisions, bilabiate or regular, 

 persistent. Corolla monopetalous, falling- offlate ; its limb irregular, rarely regular, with from 

 5 to 6 divisions, imbricated in aestivation. Stamens 2 ; filaments connate with the style into a 

 longitudinal column; anthers twin, sometimes simple, lying over the stigma ; pollen globose, 

 simple, sometimes angular. Ovarium 2-celled, many-seeded, sometimes 1-cellcd, in conse- 

 quence of the contraction of the dissepiment, often surmounted with a single gland in front, or 

 two opposite ones ; style, 1 ; stigma entire or bifid. Capsule with 2 valves and 2 cells, the dis- 

 sepiment between which being- sometimes either contracted or separable from the inflexed mar- 

 gins of the valves, the capsule becomes as it were 1 -relied. Seeds small, erect, sometimes stalked, 

 attached to the axis of the dissepiment; embryo minute, enclosed within a fleshy, somewhat 

 oily albumen. — Herbaceous plants or binder-shrubs, w ithout milk, having a stern or scape, their 

 hair, where they have any, simple, acute, or headed with a gland. Leaves scattered, some- 

 times whorled, entire, their margins naked or ciliated, the radical ones clustered in the species 

 with scapes. Flowers in spikes, racemes, or corymbs, or solitary ; terminal, rarely axillary, 

 the pedicels usually with three bracteae. 



Affinities. Nearly allied both to Cainpanulaceee and Goodenoviae, from 

 both of which they are distinguished by their gynandrous stamens, and from 

 the latter by the want of an indusium to the stigma. The structure of the 

 organs of fructification is highly curious ; the stamens and style are closely 

 combined in a solid irritable column, at the top of which is a cavity, including 

 the stigma, and bounded by the anthers. A singular blunder was committed 

 by Labillardiere, who mistook the epigynous gland for the stigma ; and another 

 by L. C. Richard, who considered the labellum to be the pistilliferous organ. 



