Menispermales] 



LARDIZABALACE^. 



303 



Order CII. LARDIZABALACEiE.— Lardizabalads. 



§ of Menispermaceae, DC. Prodr. 1. 95. (1824) ; Bartl Ord. Nat. 343 (1830) ; Endl. p 828. (1830).— 

 Lai'dizabalese, Decaisne, Memoire (1837) ; Endl. Ench. clxxiv. 



Diagnosis. — Menispermal Exogens, with 'parietal seeds and a minute embryo in 

 abundant solid albumen. 



Twining smooth slirubs. Leaves alternate, compound, without stipules. Racemes 

 sohtary oi' clustered. Flowers colom-ed white, hlac, deep purple, or pale yellow, 

 sometunes fragrant. ^ Sepals 3 or 6, in 2 rows, deciduous. Petals 6, m 2 rows, 



opposite the sepals, the inner smaller, or 

 gland-hke. or 0. Stamens 6, opposite the 

 petals ; filaments united into a tube, or even 

 distinct ; anthers tm-ned outwards, rarely 

 inwards, 2-celled, openmg by a longitudinal 

 sht. Pollen when wet spherical, 3-fuiTowed. 

 Rudiments of ovaries 2 or 3 in the centre ; 

 9 as before but larger, with 6 very imperfect 

 stamens. Carpels distinct, 3, rarely 6-9, 

 one-celled, with a short style and a simple 

 stigma. Ovules many, rarely single, sunk in 

 sockets on the inner surface of the ovary. 

 Fruit short-stalked, berried, many-seeded, 

 rarely one-seeded ; sometimes folUcular and 

 opening lengthwise. Seeds with a cartilagi- 

 nous integument ; albumen between fleshy 

 and horny, large ; embryo minute, with its 

 4 inferior radicle turned 



towards the liilum ; 

 very rarely almost as 

 large as the seed, with 

 flat cotyledons. 



This small Order has 

 been admirably illus- 

 trated by M. Decaisne. 

 It consists of twining 

 plants, with much the 

 1 Fig. CCX. 2 3 5 6 appearance of Menis- 



pei-mads, from which 

 tliey are readily kno\vn by theu* leaves being compoimd, and their ovules smik in niches 

 in the inside of the ovary, with the single exception of a Madagascar plant called Burasaia, 

 which probably, as M. Decaisne suggests, hardly belongs to the Order. This Botanist 

 regards them as otherwise allied on the one hand to Kadsurads, which have simple 

 leaves and a great many carpels, whose o^iiles are not parietal, on the other to 

 Berberids, whose foliage and flowers issuing from scaly buds are very similar ; and 

 finally to Anonads through Bocagea. No doubt they entirely participate in the 

 relationship of Menispermads, wiiatever that may be. Stauntonia has the placentation 

 of Flacoui-tia, according to Griffith. 



Two of the genera inhabit the cooler parts of South America ; the remamder are 

 from the temperate parts of China. Burasaia is the only tropical form. 



These plants appear to be harmless. The fmits of HolboUia are eaten in the hills 

 of India, accordmg to Royle. Those of Stauntonia hexaphylla have a sweetish watery 

 taste, and are eaten by the country people of Japan, who also employ their juice as a 

 domestic remedy for ophthalmia. — Siebold. In hke manner Akebia quinata produces 



Fig. CCX.— Lardizabala tritemata.— Decaisne. 1. petals and stamens of ^ flower ; 2. carpels ; 

 3. fniit of a Lardizabala ; 4. a cross section of it ; 5. a seed ; 6. a section of it, showing the embryo. 



