'28 



BELVISIACE^. 



[Epigynous Exogens. 



Order CCLXXX. BELVISIACEiE.— Napoleonworts. 



Belvisieae, R. Brown in Linn. Trans. 13. 222. (1820) ; Ed. Pr. No. clxxxi. ; Meisner Gen. p. 125.— 

 Napoleonese, Eticll. Gen. j). 745. (1839). 



Diagnosis. — Myrtal Exogens, ivith a plurilocular ovary, tnonopetaloit^ coronetted flowers, 

 talvate calyx, indefinite monadelphoibs stamens, and amygdaloid cotyledons. 



Smooth-leaved bushes, about as lai'ge as a CameUia. The wood is soft, whitish, with large 



medullary rays, and an abundance of 

 dotted vessels, iutennuigled with brittle 

 aeicular tubes of woody tissue, very like 

 what is found in the germinating radicle 

 of a Mangrove. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, leathery, narrowed at the base into 

 a thick channelled petiole ; there is no 

 trace of stipules. The flowers grow in 

 threes, sessile in the axil of the leaves, 

 and are sm*rounded at their base by 

 several round imbricated scales. The 

 calyx is a thick leathery cup, divided 

 into five ovate segments, having a per- 

 fectly valvate sestivation. Within this 

 is placed the corolla, which consists of 

 3 distinct rings, each of which is mono- 

 petalous. The first ring is divided into 

 five lobes, each of which has seven stiff 

 ribs, between which the texture is mem- 

 branous ; the lobes have seven broad 

 teeth, corresponding with the points of 

 the ribs, and much curled and crumpled. 

 By means of the ribs and intervening 

 membrane, this part of the corolla is 

 strongly plaited both before and after 

 expansion ; when fully blown, it tm*ns 

 quite back over the calyx, so as to hide 

 it completely. The second ring is very 

 small and thin ; it is, in fact, a narrow 

 membrane, stationed at the foot of the 

 first ring, and cut into an indefinite 

 number of fine narrow sharp-pointed 

 segments. This ring was overlooked by 

 De Beauvois. The third ring is mem- 

 branous, but erect, and assuming the 

 form of a cup, whose edge is cut into 



Fk. CCCCLXXXVII. 



Fig. CCCCLXXXVII.— Napoleonaimperialis. 1. a flower-bud just expanding ; 2. the fleshy cup, and 

 table-shaped stigma ; 3. an expanded flower of the natural size ; 4. a perpendicular section of the same. 

 (In this the artist has carelessly added a fourth ring to the corolla on the outside of the stamens ; no such 

 ling exists) ; 5. a perpendicular section of the ovary ; 6. an ovule ; 7. a ripe seed ; 8. a stamen ; 9.a trans- 

 \erse section of the ovary. 



