ViOLALES.] 



MALESHERBIACE^. 



335 



Order CXIV. MALESHERBIACEiE.— Crownworts. 



Malesherbiaceje, Don in Jameson's Journal, ^21. (182(5); Ed. pr. lil; Endl. Gen. cxc\Tii. ; Meisner 

 Gen. p. 193.— Passiflorese, § Malesherbiese, DC. Prodr. 3. 337. (1828.) 



Diagnosis. — Violal Exorjens, with polypetalous coronetted flowers, perigynmis imhricated 

 petcds, stamens on the stcdh of the ovary, simple dorsal styles, seeds without aril, and 

 leaves idthout stipides. 



Herbaceous or half-slii-ubby plants. Leaves alternate, lobed, without stipules. Flowers 

 axillary or terminal, solitary, yellow or blue. Calyx tubular, membran- 

 ous, inflated, 5-lobed, the lobes ^^•itll an imbricated aestivation. Petals 5, 

 alternate ^vith the segments of the calyx, persistent, M'ith a convolute 

 aestivation, arising from without a short membranous rim or coronet. 

 Stamens 5 or 10, perig}Tious; filaments filiform, distmct, or connected 

 with the stalk of the ovary ; anthers versatile. Ovary superior, stipi- 

 tate, 1 -celled, with parietal placentae; ovules 00, pendulous, anatropal ; 

 styles 3, filifonn, very long, arismg from distant points of the apex of 

 the ovary ; stigmas clavate. Fruit capsular, 1 -celled, 3-valved, mem- 

 branous, more or less many-seeded. Seeds attached to placentae arising 

 either from the axis of the valves, or from theu' base ; testa brittle, with 

 a fleshy crest, and no aril ; embryo taper, in the midst of abundant 

 fleshy albvunen, with the radicle next the hilum. 



According to Don, by whom these plants were first 

 considered the rudiments of an Order, " they agi'ee 

 on the one hand with Passionworts, and on the other 

 with Tumerads;" and I am persuaded that this is 

 theu' ti'ue position. From the former they differ m 

 the insertion of theb styles at the back, not on the 

 apex of the ovary, in their taper embryo, want of aril 

 and of stipules, and altogether in theu" habit : from 

 TmTierads, to which theu* habit quite aUies them, 

 they differ in the presence of a membranous coronet 

 within the petals, in the remarkable insertion of the 

 styles, and m the want of all trace of an aril. In 

 their thin-sided fi-uit they approach Smeathmannia 

 in Passionworts. Theu' tubular, somewhat fuiTowed 

 calyx is not altogether diff'erent from that of Frank- 

 eniads. 



All are natives of Chih and Peru. 



Their uses are unknowTi. 



GENERA. 



Malesherbia, Ruiz, et Pav. | Gynopleura, Cav. 



Fig. CCXXVIII. 



Numbers. Gen. 2. Sp. 5. 



Position. — Tm-neraceae. — Malesherbiace^. — Passifloraceae. 



Fig. CCXXVIII. - Malesherbia fasciculata ; 1. a flower ; 2. a part of the calyx seen from within, 

 showing 2 petals and a portion of the coronet ; 3. the stamens and pistil : 4. the pistil apart ; 5. a section 

 of the ovary. — Endlicher. 



