DiCTYOGENS.] 



PHILESIACEiE. 



217 



Order LXX. PHILESIACE^.— Philesiads. 



Philesieae, Ed, pr. under cchiii. (1836) ; Endl. Gen. p. 157.— Philesiaceae, Endl. Ench.p. 91. (1841). 

 DiAGxVOSis. — Dictyofjens with bisexual trihexapetaloideous flowers, consolidated carpels and 



parietal placentce. 



Twining or upright shrubs, -svith ribbed or 1 -nerved coriaceous, deciduous, reticulated, 

 leaves. Flowers large, showy, § , solitary, scaly at the base ; either tripetaloideous 

 with the calyx coloiu'ed, membra- 

 nous and short, or hexapetaloideous, /'^^V 

 with the sepals and petals equal and '' ' 

 similar. Stamens 6, inserted into 

 the base of the perianth ; anthers 

 linear, opening longitudinally. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, free, with 3 parietal 

 placentae ; style long, club-shaped ; 

 stigmas 3 ; o\^es 00, orthotropal, 

 enveloped in mucilage. Fruit suc- 

 culent. Notliing more kno^^^^ with 

 certainty, except that the seeds of 

 Lapageria are obovate, homy, and 

 buried in pulp, according to the 

 Flora Peruviana. 



In the last edition of this work 

 I regarded these plants as forming 

 a part of the Roxburgh-worts ; but 

 the discovery by Mr. Griffith, that 

 the carpel of these plants is quite 

 simple, and a further consideration 

 of the parietal placentse, orthotro- 

 pal ovules, and hexamerous flowers 

 of the Philesiads, has decided me to 

 separate them, in the belief that 

 recruits may be hereafter found 

 for them. Very little is known 



atout them at present ; no one has Pig CXLVIII. 



analysed their seeds, and it is even 



doubtful whether the two genera here brought together are so closely alUed as is 

 supposed. For my part, I only know the ovules of Philesia. Lapageria looks like a 

 SmUax bearing the flowers of a Bomarea. 



Chih, especially its southern provinces, produces all we as yet know of the species 

 of these plants. 



Lapageria rosea, a most beautiful twiner, is said to have sweet eatable ben*ies, and a 

 root Uke Sarsaparilla in quahty. 



GENERA. 



Philesia, Commers. 

 Campia, Domb. 

 Lapageria, Ruiz et Pav. 



Numbers. Gen. 2. Sp. 2. 



Position. — Smilacese. — Philesiaceae. — Roxbiu'ghiacece. 



Amaryllid<cc€<£. 



Fig. CXLVIII.— 1. Philesia buxifolia; 2. stigma of Lapageria rosea; 3. its ovary cut across; 4. its 

 ovule. 



