ViOLALES.] 



FLACOURTIACE.E. 



327 



Order CX. FLACOURTIACEiE.— Bixads. 



Flacourtianeae, Richard in Mim. Mus. 1. 366. (1815) ; DC. Prodr. 1. 255 ; Wight Illiistr. 1. 36 ; 

 Bennett in HorsfieWs pi. Jav. p. 187.— Flacom-tiaceae, Ed. pr. 1.— BLxineae, Kunth. Diss. Malv. 

 p. 17. (1822); DC. Prodr. 1. 259; Wight Illustr. 1. 38.— Bixacese, Ed. pr. liv. (1»36) ; Endl. 

 Gen. cxcv. 



Diagnosis. — Violal Exogens, loith scattered apetalous or polypetalous floioers, hypogynous 

 petals and stamens, and dotless or round-dotted leaves. 



Slirubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, simple, on short stalks, without stipules, 

 usually entire, and leathery, very often marked with transparent dots, Pedimcles 

 axillary, many-flowered. Sepals from 4-7, 

 cohering slightly at the base. Petals equal 

 to the latter in number and alternate with 

 them, or wanting. Stamens hypog}Tious, 

 of the same number as the petals, or twice 

 as many, or some multiple of them. Ova- 

 ry roundish, sessile, or shghtly stalked, 

 free, 1 or more celled, mth 2 or more 

 parietal placentae, which are either simple 

 or branched ; style either none or fili- 

 form ; stigmas several, more or less dis- 

 tinct ; ovules attached to the sm'face or 

 sides of the placentae, and never to the 

 axis in those genera whose ovary has 

 several cells. Fniit 1 -celled, either fleshy 

 and indehiscent, or capsular, with 4 or 5 

 valves, the centre filled with a tliin pulp. 

 Seeds 00, usually enveloped in a pelHcle 

 formed by the withered pulp ; albumen 

 fleshy, somewhat oily ; embryo straight, 

 in the axis, with the radicle tiu'ned to the 

 liilum, and therefore usually superior ; 

 cotyledons flat, foliaceous. 



The two supposed Natural 

 Orders noAv brought together, as 

 suggested by several ^^Titers, and 

 especially by Mr. Bennett and 

 Professor Endlicher, have never 

 possessed any valid claim to 

 be disthiguished. The differences 

 between them were derived from 

 the mode of placentation, which 

 in Bixa and its allies is parietal 

 in Imes, while m Flacourtia it 

 spreads like a net all over the 

 inner surface of the fruit. But 

 intermediate structui*es annul this 

 characteristic. It was also sup- 

 posed that the presence among 

 the allies of Flacourtia of certain 

 baiTen stamens or scales, would 



assist in dividing the latter from Bixa, — m fact, establishing a direct affinity between 

 the first and Passionwoi*ts ; but those scales belonged to genera now referred to 

 Pangiads. Taken as a Natural Order, Bixads form a group readily known from Samyds 

 by their hypogynous stamens and dotless leaves, or at least by all their dots being round 

 if they are present ; from Passionworts by the petals if present being hypogynous, and 

 the total absence of all sign of a coronet. Because of their indefinite stamens, and the 

 valvate calyx of some genera, they have been compared to Lindcnblooms : but there 



Fig. CCXXIV.— Bixa Orellana.— Tr7^//i<. 1. a pistil and two stamens; 2. a cross section of the 

 ovarj- ; 3. a ripe fruit ; 4. a cross section of a seed. 



Fig. CCXXIV. 



