Myrtales.] 



ALANGTACEiE. 



10 



Order CCLXXV. ALANGIACE.E.— Alangiads. 



A\nnsiex,DC.rrod):3. 203. (1828); Bartl. Ord. Nat. p. 424. (1830); Endl. Gen. cclxii.; Wioht Illustr.2. 

 ^yssaceaJ, Juss. in Diet. Sc. 35. 2G7. (LS25) ; Endl. Gen. p. 328. 



Di xGyosis.— M7j}'tal Exogens, with a l-celled ovary, pendulms ovules, dotless leaves, 

 albuminous seeds, and fiat cotyledons. 



Large trees or shrubs. Branches often spiny. Leaves alternate, without stipules, 

 entire, without dots. Flowers fascicled, axillary. Calyx adherent, 5-10-toothed. 



Petals 5-10, inserted into 

 a fleshy adherent disk, 

 linear, reflexed. Stamens 

 long, exserted, 2 or 4 times 

 as numerous as the petals, 

 or equal to them in num- 

 ber ; filaments distinct, 

 villous at the base ; an- 

 thers adnate, linear, 2- ^ 

 celled, turned inwards, ' 

 often empty. Ovary 1-2- ^ 

 celled ; style filiform, sim- 

 ple ; ovules solitary, pen- 

 dulous, anatropal. Drupe 

 oval, somewhat cro^^•ned 

 by the calyx, fleshy, slight- 

 ly ribbed, and downy ; 

 nucleus 1 - celled, bony, 

 with a foramen at the 

 apex. Seed 1, inverted ; 

 albumen fleshy, brittle ; 

 embryo straight ; radicle 

 long, superior ; cotyledons 

 flat, large, leafy. 



According to De Can- 

 dolle, who founded this 

 small Order, it differs from 

 Myrtleblooms in its more 

 numerous petals, adnate 

 anthers, 1 - celled fruit, 

 and pendulous albuminous 

 1 Fig CCCCLXXIX. seeds. It agrees with My- CCCCLXXX. 



robalans in the contracted 

 tube of the calyx, l-celled fruit, and pendulous seeds ; but differs in the number of the 

 petals, adnate anthers, albuminous seeds, and flat cotyledons. The Order disagrees 

 entirely with Melastomads and Onagrads, in the form of the anthers, and l-celled 

 fruit. It in some measiu'e approaches Hippurids in the structure of the seed, Init 

 recedes from them in habit, l-celled fruit, and single style. Its most immediate 

 relationship, next to Myrobalans, is with Cornels, to which Marlea approximates, 

 and with Witch Hazels, whose long narrow petals are strikingly similar to those of 

 Alangiads. 



But notwithstanding the near relation between these groups, the large leafy cotyledons 

 and small quantity of albumen seem to indicate a closer relation between Myrobalans 

 and Alangiads than between the latter and the Umbcllal Alliance ; and the Alangiads 

 may be best regarded as the representative of the Comal tendency in the Combretal 

 Alliance. I think there can be little doubt that Nyssa is a genus of tins Order, as 

 Ad. Brongniart has partly suggested (Emim. xxx.), and i)rincipally remarkaljlo fur 

 the want of petals. Mr. Bennett states that the ovary of Marlea is 2-celled, as m 

 Cornus, but that does not correspond with my observ ations upon the fresh pla nt. 



Fig. CCCCLXXIX.— Marlea begonifolia. 1. perpendicular section of the pistil. 



Fig. CCCCLXXX.— Nyssa moDtauar-Gcertner. 1. fruit ; 2. cross section of it ; 3. embryo. 



