298 



MONIMIACEiE. 



[Diclinous Exogens. 



Order XCIX. MONIMIACE^.— Monimiads. 



Monimiese, Juss, in Ann. Mus. 14. 130. (1809) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 103. ; Endl Gen. cv. 



Diagnosis. — Menispermal Exogens, with perigynous stamens, pendulous seeds, and a 

 minute embryo on the outside of copious fieshy albumen. 



Aromatic trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, without stipules. Flowers axillary, 

 <? $ . Calyx somewhat globose, divided at the border, sometimes into more rows than 

 one, in wliich case the segments of the 

 latter are petaloid and imbricated. $ Sta- 

 mens indefinite, covering all the inside 

 of the tube of the calyx ; filaments often 

 with a pah' of scales at the base ; anthers 

 2-celled,burstinglongitudinally. $ Ovaries 

 several, superior, 1 -celled, distinct, in- 

 closed witliin the tube of the caljTC, 

 each with its own style and stigma ; ovule 

 solitary, anatropal, pendulous. Fruit con- 

 sisting of several 1 -seeded nuts, inclosed 

 witliin the enlarged calyx. Seed pendu- 

 lous ; embryo [small, at the end of an 

 abimdant fleshy albumen, to which it is 

 wholly external, its thin diverging coty- 

 ledons being apphed to the surface of the 

 albumen ; testa very fleshy ; radicle supe- 

 rior in Ruizia fragi'ans or Boldoa]. 



The plants wliich constitute this Natural 

 Order have been stationed by difierent 

 Botanists in various parts of their Natm'al 

 arrangements. Being shrubs with apeta- 

 lous flowers and an aromatic quaUty, they 

 have been placed near Lam'els (Lau- 

 racese), with which they also coiTespond 

 in their ovaries containing but one o\"ule. 

 Their flowers being apetalous and the sexes 

 disunited, others have referred them to the \acinity of Nettleworts (Urticacese), with 

 which, moreover, some species of Citrosma correspond in habit. The true station, 

 however, is evidently among unisexual Orders, vA\h a very large quantity of albumen, 

 where they may be very natm-ally associated with Nutmegs and their allies. In fact, 

 Mr. Gardner's Tetratome eUiptica has so much the appearance of a Nutmeg, that it 

 has been laid into herbaria as such. The extremely aromatic quality of these Monimiads 

 is a strong confirmation of the propriety of this -vdew. Their numerous carpels bring 

 them also into contact with Kadsurads, another aromatic Order. The structm'e of the 

 calyx of Boldoa, the gradual transition of its segments into petaloid leaves, and the 

 disunited carpels, indicate some analogy to Calycanths, but the minute embryo and 

 disunited sexes forbid us to regard the connection between these plants and Monimiads 

 as being of an mtimate kind. 



Brown says {Flinders, 553.) that what is here called, with Jussieu, a calyx, is more 

 properly an involucre ; a view that I formerly adopted, not lia-\Tng had the opportunity 

 of examining specimens for myself. Now, however, that good materials have been 

 acqmred by me, I no longer concur with him in that opinion. 



In most books the embryo is said to be in the axis of fleshy albumen. How far this 

 may be time in other genera I am imable to ascei^tain, but it is certainly not so in 

 Boldoa fragrans ; which, as was partly stated long ago by Correa de Serra, has the very 

 curious structure above described. Is it possible that the thick fleshy radicle has been 

 taken for an embryo, and that the thin diverging cotyledons have been overlooked ? 



Fig. CCV.— Boldoa fragrans. 1. a section of the ripe fruit ; 2. the embryo shown separately. 



Fig. CCV 



