666 



SELAGINACE^. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCLVIII. SELAGINACE^.— Selagids. 



Selagineae, Juss. Ami. Mus. 7. 71. (1806) ; Richard in Pers. Synops. 2. 146; Choisy Mdmoire, (1823) ; 

 Bartl. Ord. Nat. 177 ; Endl. Gen. cxl. ; E. Meyer, Comment, pi. Afr. Austr. 245 ; Meisner Gen. p. 

 292.— Globularineas, DC. Fl. Fr. 3. 427. (1815) ; CambessMes in Ann. des Sciences, 9. 15; E7idL 

 Gen. cxxxix. ; Link Handb. 1. 675 ; Meisner, p. 315. 



Diagnosis. — Echial Exogens, with irregular unsyinmetrical flowers, confluent nuts, pendu- 

 lous ovules, and 1-celled anthers. 



Herbaceous plants, or small branched shrubs. Leaves alternate, generally 

 toothed, or entii-e, without stipules, usually in clusters. 

 Flowers sessile, spiked, with large bracts. Calyx spa- 



thaceous, or tubular, per- 

 sistent, with a definite num- 

 ber of teeth or divisions, 



rarely consisting of two 



sepals. Corolla tubular, 



hypogjTious, more or less 



iiTeguiar, with 5 lobes, im- 

 bricated in aestivation. 



Stamens 4, usually didyna- 



mous, arising from the top 



of the tube of the corolla, 



seldom 2 ; anthers 1-celled, 



usually aduate to the dilated 



top of the filament, rarely 



versatile. Ovary superior ; 



style 1, filiform ; stigma 



nearly capitate ; ovules soU- 



tary, pendulous, anatropal. 



Disk hypogjTious, fleshy. 



Fruit 2-celled ; the cells 



Fig. CCCCXLIV. 



Fig. CCCCXLV. 



either separable or inseparable, 1 -seeded, membranous. Seed solitary, pendulous ; 

 embryo in the axis of a little fleshy albumen ; radicle superior. 



The very small group collected under the name of Selagids is nearly alhed on the one 

 hand to Verbenes, and the other to Myoporads,from both which it is known by having 

 1 -celled anthers. It also differs from Verbenes in having pendulous ovules. Globularia, 

 wliich has been regarded as the type of a particular Order, does not seem to differ in 

 anything more than having a solitary carpel ; for its anthers are 1-celled. The resem- 

 blance of that genus to Primworts is very inconsiderable ; but it may be regarded as 

 being more like a form of Teazel worts (Dipsacaceae), with a superior ovary. The 

 genus Globularia is moreover in some respects analogous to Bnmonia, which however 

 differs abundantly m having hypogynous stamens, symmetrical flowers, and no albumen. 



The principal part of this Order comes from the Cape of Good Hope ; Gynmandra is 

 however Siberian, and the Globularias European, chiefly mhabiting the southern king- 

 doms and the basin of the Mediterranean. 



The species seem to be of small importance. Some are sweet-scented ; Hebenstrei- 

 tia dentata is said to be scentless in the morning, strong-smelling at mid-day, and sweet 

 in the evening. Globularia Alypum is a bitter, di'astic purgative, once supposed to be 



Fig. CCCCXLIV, 

 Pig. CCCCXLV.- 

 ovary ; 4. section of seed of Microdon ovatum 



Globularia oiientalis. 1. a flower ; 2. section of calyx and ovary ; 3. section of fruit. 

 Selago distans. 1. a flower; 2. an anther; 3. a perpendicular section of an 



