ISi 



APOSTASIACEyE. 



[Endogens. 



Ordkr LIII. APOSTASIACE.E.— Apostasiads. 



Apostasieae, Lindl. Nixits Pluntanim, p. 22. (1833); Blimie in Ann. Sc. Nat.Ser. 2. 2. 91. (1834); Endl. 

 Gt;«. Ixvii. ; Meisn.p.3S7. 



Diagnosis. — Orchidal Endogens with regular half-gy^iandrous flowers, and axile placentce. 



Perennial herbaceous plants. Stem simple or branched. Leaves firm, thin, sheath- 

 ing at the base. Flower.^ in simple or compound terminal racemes. Calyx and corolla 

 each consisting of 3 similar pieces. Anthers 2 or 3, sessile upon a short column, erect, 

 2-celled, opening longitudinally ; 

 pollen cohering in 3s or 4s ac- 

 cording to ]\Ir. Bauer {Illust. 

 Fruct. 1. 15), — in single oval grains 

 A\'ith a longitudinal furrow accord- 

 ing to Mr. Griffith {Letter dated 

 MerqiuDec. 28, 1834) andBlume. 

 Ovary 3-celled, with 3 polysper- 

 mous placentse in the axis ; ovniles 

 with their integuments very dis- 

 tinct and much shorter than the protinided nucleus 

 (Griffith) ; style filiform, Avith a slightly 3-lobed 

 stigma as long as the anthers, and adhering with 

 their filaments into a short column. [Capsule 3- 

 celled, 3-valved ; the valves bearing the dissepi- 

 ment in the middle, but cohering at the apex and 

 base. Seeds very numerous, minute, ovate, and 

 with a skin fitting the nucleus, or scobiform with a 

 membranous testa loose at each end. — Blume.] 



Very closely allied to Orchids, from which they 

 difier essentially in ha\ang a 3-celled fniit, with 

 loculicidal dehiscence, and in the style bemg alto- 

 gether free from the stamina for the' principal part 

 of its length. At the same time the stnictm-e is 

 gynaudrous enough to aff'ord a clear distinction 

 from the Burmanniads. There are many admi- 

 rable observations upon Apostasia itself in Brown's 

 Observations on the organs and mode of fecundation 

 in Orchidece and Asdepiadece, and some further 

 information is given by Blume in the place above 

 quoted. The Order seems as if connecting Or- 

 chids and Hypoxids. If Rhyncanthera is correctly 

 represented by Blume, its 3-locidar ovary will re- 

 fer it here, while the structure of its column would ke 

 character is, however, framed without reference to it. 

 Found in damp woods in the hotter parts of India. 

 No uses have been assigned to any of them. 



Fig. CXXV. 

 •p it in Orchids. The essential 



Apostasia, Bl. 

 Mesodactylus, Wall. 



GENERA. 



JVeuwiedia, BL 



?Rhyncanthera, Bl. 



Numbers. Gen. 3. Sp. 5. 



HypoxidacecB. 

 Position.— Orchidacese.—AposTAsiACE.E. 



Fig. CXXV.- Apostasia odorata; 1. a flower; 2. the stamens and style; 3. across section of the 



