231 



Examples. The sections above alluded to in this order are the following : 



§1. SolanejE. The Genuine Nightshade Tribe. 

 Corolla with the limb usually plaited. Stamens equal to the number of the 

 lobes of the corolla. Embryo curved much. R.Br. 

 Solanum, Physalis, Nicotiana, Datura, Lycium, Atropa. 



§ 2. Nolaneje. The Nolana Tribe. 



Nolanese. Reichenb. Consp. 125. (1829.) 



Corolla plaited. Stamens ecpial to the number of the lobes of the corolla. 

 Ovarium divided into 5 or more lobes. Fruit drupaceous. Embryo much 

 curved. 



Nolana. 



§ 3. VerbascejE. The Mullein Tribe. 



Corolla not plaited. Stamens 5 and unequal, or didynamous. Embryo 

 slightly curved. 



Verbascum, Celsia, Anthocercis. 



N. B. Reichcnbach refers the first and last to Scrophularinea?. {Conspec- 

 tus, p. 124.) 



CCXIV. ACANTHACEiE. The Justicia Tribe. 



Acanthi, Juss. Gen. 102. (1789). Acanthace;e, R. Brown Prodr. 472. (1810) ; Link Hanclb. 1. 

 500. (1829) a sect. o/"Personatse. 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with a superior 2-celled capsule, 

 irregular unsymmetrical flowers, exalbuminous wingless seeds with hooked dis- 

 sepiments, and imbricated flowers. 



Anomalies. A singular depauperation of the calyx takes place in the ge- 

 nera Thunbergia, Mendozia, and Clistax, in which that organ is reduced some- 

 times to a mere obsolete ring, its place being supplied by bracteae. Mendozia 

 is also remarkable for its fruit being a 1 -seeded drupe, with crumpled chrysa- 

 loid cotyledons. 



Essential Character.— Calyx 4- or 5-divided, cleft or tubular, equal or unequal occasion- 

 ally multifid, or entire and obsolete, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, bearing 

 the stamens, mostly irregular ; the limb ringent or 2-lipped (the lower lip overlapping the up- 

 per in estivation), occasionally 1-lipped, sometimes nearly equal, deciduous. Stamens mostly 

 2, both bearing anthers ; sometimes 4, didynamous, the shorter ones being sometimes sterile ; 

 anthers either 2-celled, their cells being inserted equally or unequally, or 1-cclled, opening 

 lengthwise. Ovarium seated in the disk, 2-celled, the cells cither 2- or many-seeded ; style 1 ; 

 stigma 2-lobed, rarely undivided. Capsxde 2-cellcd, the cells 2- or many -seeded, by abortion 

 sometimes becoming 1-seeded, bursting elastically with 2 valves. Dissepiment opposite the 

 valves, separable into two pieces through the axis (the middle being sometimes open) ; these 

 pieces attached to the valves, sometimes separating from them with elasticity ; entire, or occa- 

 sionally spontaneously separating in two, their inner edge bearing the seeds. Seeds roundish, 

 hanging by subulate ascending processes of the dissepiment ; testa loose ; albumen none ; em- 

 bryo curved or straight; cotyledons large, roundish; radicle taper, descending, and at the 

 same time centripetal, curved, or straight; plumula inconspicuous.— Berbcweous plants or 

 shrubs, chiefly tropical ; their hairs, if they have any, simple, occasionally capitate, very rarely 

 stellate. Leaves opposite, rarely in fours, without stipulai, simple, undivided, entire, or ser- 

 rated ; rarely sinuate, or having a tendency to become lobed. Inflorescence terminal, or axil- 

 lary, in spikes, racemes, fascicles, or panicles ; the flowers sometimes even solitary. Flowers 

 usually opposite in the spikes, sometimes alternate, with 3 bracteaj, of which the lateral are now 

 and then deficient; these bractcx sometimes large and leafy, and enclosing a diminished ca- 

 lyx, which is occasionally obsolete. R. Br. chiefly. 



