Ai.\ RALES.] 



LORANTHACEyE. 



789 



Order CCCII. LORANTHACEiE.— Loranths. 



Lorantheae, Juss. et Rich. Ann. 3Ius. 12. 292. (1808) ; DC. Prodr. 4. 277. Mtinoire (1830; ; Btume, Fl. 

 Jar.— Viscoideae, Rich. Anal, du Fr. 33. (1818).— Loranthacese. Ed. pr. xxxiii. ; Endl. Gen. cUvl. ; 

 Wight lUiistr. 2. t. 119.— Myzodendrea?, R. Brown in Linn. Trans. xi.\. 232. 



Diagnosis. — Asaral Exorjens, with 



[-celled ovary and definite ovules with 

 nucleus. 



naked 



Shrubby plants, in aknost all cases gi'owing into the tissue of other vegetables, as true 

 parasites. Leaves opposite, or sometimes alternate, veinless, fleshy, without stipules. 



Flowers ^ or J 2 , a.xillary, or terminal, 

 solitary, corymbose, cymose, or spiked. 

 Calyx sometimes ; most commonly spring- 

 ing from within the brim of a fleshy cup- 

 like expansion of the pedicel, and usually 

 surrounded with bracts at the base ; sepals 

 3, 4, or 8 in number, often joined into a tube, 

 valvate in aestivation. Petals 0. Stamens 

 equal in number to the sepals, and opposite 

 to them if any are present ; anthers 1 -celled, 

 2-celled, or broken up into numerous cavi- 

 ties. Ovary 1 -celled, sunk ^^'ithin the cup- 

 like expansion of the pedicel, and adhering 

 to it ; * OATiles with a perfectly naked nu- 

 cleus, erect, or suspended fi'om the point of a 

 central placenta ; style 1 or ; stigma sim- 

 ple, if distinguishable. Fruit succulent, (or 

 occasionally dry,) 1 -celled. Seed solitary ; 

 embryo longer than the fleshy albumen, and 

 generally projecting beyond it ; sometimes 

 with no apparent cotyledons, in Viscum seve- 

 ral m the same seed ; radicle at the point of 

 the seed most remote from the hilum. [Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Bidwill, the seeds of Nuytsia 

 germinate with 3 cotvledons. — Ann. Nat, 

 Hist. viii. 439.] 



Vei'y (hff'erent opinioivs are entertained 

 by Botanists concerning the true afflnitv of 



Fig. DXXIII. 



Loranths. In some respects they are near Caprifoils, from which they are readily 

 known not only by their parasitical habit, but also by their stamens being opposite 

 valvate lobes of a tubular calyx. Don has expressed an opinion that a connection is 

 established between this Oi'der and Araliads, by means of Aucuba (Jamcson^s Juuntaij 

 Jan. 1830, p. 168). Brown {Flinders, 549) suggests a relation to Proteads. Endll- 

 cher decides in favour of the relation to Caprifoils, Witch Hazels and Coniels. 

 Adrien de Jussieu takes a similar ^^ew (Coicrs Element., p. 5(i7). Dr. Wight sug- 

 gests a relation to Alangiads. Adolphe Bx'ongniart combines them, along with Horn- 

 worts, Chloranths, Sandalworts, and Olacads, into a class which he calls Santalinees. 

 These discordant opinions are caused by the different interpretations put by Botanists 

 upon the nature of the floral envelopes. 



It is customary to call the floi'al envelopes of the genera of Loranths by the name of 

 sepals in Viscum, and of petals in Loranthus, because in the latter genus we And exter- 

 nal to them a cup-hke expansion, which is regarded as a calyx. It however seems im- 

 possible to doubt that the parts of the perianth arc really of the same nature in both 

 instances, as is proved moreover by the staiijens, which are aiiplied to their face in both 

 cases. Schleideu, indeed, calls the S flower of Viscum naked, and supposes it to con- 

 sist of nothing but anthers ; but M. Decaisne has more correctly shown the $ flowers 



* Schleiden has taken a very different view of the structure of Viscum, and describes it as ha\-ing a 

 truly naked ovule ! surrounded by a tetranierous herbaceous perianth ; this ovule he calls " erect, atropal, 

 and consisting of a naked nucleus." — Wiegm. Arch. 1839, p. 213. 



Fig. DXXIII.— Loranthus chrysanthus.— JJ^mwjc 1. sertion of a flower ; 2. of a fruit. 



