Myrtales.] belvisiace.e. 729 



many fine segments, turned ilownwards, so as not to be at all conspicuous. The stamens 

 are 20, standing erect in the form of another cup, and une(pially united at their base • 

 they have linear-lanceolate filaments, which are much thinner next the anthers, and are' 

 there turned inwards ; the anther itself is oblong, ^-ecllcd, and erect. Next the stamens 

 comes a deep fleshy cup or disk, standing as high as the stigma, and having ten sides of 

 which the naiTowest are alternate with the lobes of the stigma, and 'J-ribbe*! in the 

 inside. The ovary is buried beneath the mass formed by the base of the corolla, sta- 

 mens, a!id disk ; it has five cells, in each of which two o\'ules hang from the top of an 

 axile placenta, which is so attached to the partitions that there is a clear opening fnjni 

 the hollow^ centre of the style, over the ovules, into the cells of the ovary ; the'^ovules 

 are oblong, with a depression in the middle on each side, and a foramen next the Ijase 

 the nucleus being curved like a horse-shoe, so that its base and apex are both nearly in' 

 contact ; the style is 5-angled, or rather 5-winged, and terminated by a table-shaped 

 stigma, with five sides, five rays, and a small elevation at each angle, which elevations 

 are perhaps the true stigmatic surfaces. The fruit is a soft spherical ben-y, sunnounted 

 by the calyx, as large as a Pomegranate, and very like one, containing a mucilaginous 

 pulp wliich is eatable, and a rind so full of tannin, that the natives make an ink from it. 

 The seeds are large amygdaloid bodies, kidney-shaped, and as much as 1 { inch long ; at 

 their contraction the plano-convex cotyledons hold together by an axis whose radicle 

 and plumule are both immersed m the substance of the cotyledons. 



In the total absence of all correct information as to the real structure of this curious 

 genus. Botanists were unable to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion as to its aftinities. 

 All that they had been able to settle was its not belonging to any known Natural Order. 

 Palisot De Beauvois stated (1807) that, in the opinion of Jussieu, it constituted a new 

 Ox-der between Cucurbits and Passionflowers ; a view that was probably taken in 

 consequence of the double-ringed corolla, which is analogous to the coronet of the 

 Passionflowers, and the plaited corolla with an mferior ovary, which brings to mind 

 the flowers of Cucm'bits. Desfontaines, on the contrary (1820), referred it, and another 

 genus which he calls Asteranthus, ^^^thout any doubt to Sj-mplocaceoe, because of its 

 monopetalous perigynous corolla, its stamens inserted in the base of the corolla, its 

 oblong two-celled anthers, single style, inferior ovary, axillary solitary flowers, shrubby 

 stem, and alternate leaves. Him followed Dr. Robert Brown (1822), who fomied it 

 and Asteranthus into an Order called Belvisieae, without, however, attempting to settle 

 its position in the Natural System. He objected to approximating it to Symplocaceae, 

 doubted its affinity to Passionflowers, and compared its structure with that of Ratflesia. 

 Latterly no one seems to have attempted to suggest anything new as to its relationship. 

 EndUcher puts it next to SjTuplocaceae ; Meisuer next Passionflowers, adding to what 

 had been pre^^ously known of it, that its seeds are arillate, a mistake (?) that probably 

 originated in De Beauvois's description of them, " Semina in pulpa cai'uosa nidulantia." 

 Finally, I myself, feeling that these could not be its true aftinities, placed it in the Cam- 

 panal AlHance, with marks of gi'eat doubt. But I was enabled, a few months since, by 

 the kindness of the Earl of Derby, to examine good specimens collected by Mr. Whit- 

 field, from which the foregoing description and succeeding remarks were written for 

 the Botanical Register. 



It is obvious that Napoleona has nothing to do with any of the Orders to which it has 

 been refeiTed. From Cucm'bits it difl'ers utterly it its hermaphrodite flowers, axile 

 placentation, highly developed corolla, and whole habit ; it has in fact no resemblance 

 to that Order. Passionflowers seem at first sight to claim a much nearer relationship, 

 because of the triple-rowed corolla of Napoleona, which much resembles the coronet of 

 those plants ; but there the resemblance ceases. The tendinis, parietal placenta, free 

 ovary, distinct styles, polypetalous corolla, imbricated calyx of Passionflowers, ai-e all 

 most essentially at variance with the genus. Symplocacese were a far better guess, for 

 the monopetalous corolla, indefinite epipetalous stamens, axile placentae, adherent calyx, 

 and definite seeds of Napoleona find there a parallel ; but the ovai*y of that genus is 

 wholly adherent, with a gi'eat epigynous disk, the calyx is valvatc, and the seeds have 

 no albumen, to say notlung of the lacerated condition of the corolla, which is not to be 

 wholly disregarded in a consideration of this kind. Upon the whole it appears that the 

 true aftinity is in the neighbom-hood of the Mangi-oves (Rhizophoraceai), for the follow- 

 ing reasons : — The ovary is m both inferior, few-seeded, with axile placentiu ; both 

 have a coriaceous valvate calyx ; both have large amygdaloid seeds without albumen. 

 The placenta of Kandelia is almost the same as that of Napoleona, and in the former 

 genus the petals are broken up into numerous fringes quite analogous to those of the 

 genus in question. To this may be added the great resemblance that exists between the 

 wood of Napoleona and of young Rhizophora, in consequence of both consisting in part 

 of slender acicular tubes, which give the wood, when broken across, the ai)pearance of 

 containing slender bristles. Finally, the ribbing, which is so conspicuous in the outer 



