ViOLALES.] 



SAUVAGESIACE/E. 



343 



Order CXIX. SAUVAGESIACEiE.— Sauvageads. 



Violaceae, § Sauvageae, DC. Prod. 1. 315. (1824).— Sauvagesieae, Bartl. Orel. Nat.289. (1830) ; Endl. Gen. 

 cxci.; Meisn, Gen. p. 21.— Sauvagesiacese, Von Martius Conspectus, No. 238. (1835). 



Diagnosis. — Violal Exogem, vjith polypetalous flotvers, a many-leaved calyx, hypoyynous 

 petals, stamens partly sterile and petaloid, anthers opposite the petals, naked, and 

 turned outicxwds, consolidated fruit, and albuminous seeds. 



Smooth shrubs or annual herbs, with a terete, simple, or branched stem. Leaves alter- 

 nate, simple, shining, feather-veined, nearly sessile, 

 with fringed permanent stipules. Flowers perfect, 

 regular, white, pink, violet or yellow, generally in 

 teiTuinal panicles or racemes, and on slender tliread- 

 shaped stalks. Sepals 5, equal or imequal, imbricated. 

 Petals 5, twisted m sestivatiou, deciduous. Stamens 

 hypogynous, definite and opposite the petals, or 00, 

 all fertile, in more rows than one, of which the 

 innermost alone is fertile, the exterior assuming the 

 appearance of petaloid scales. Anthers tmrned out- 

 wards, 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary free, 

 1 -celled, with 3 parietal placentae, sometimes 3-celled 

 at the base and 1 -celled at the apex ; style termmal 

 and stigma simple or nearly so ; o\Tiles parietal, 

 anatropal. Capsule 3-valved, 1 -celled or 3-celled at 

 the base, with the seeds attached to the edges of the 

 valves. Seeds small, oblong, pitted, -svith a straight 

 embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen, and the 

 radicle next the hilum. 



Among the other differences between these plants 

 and Violetworts may be mentioned theh* stamens, 

 when definite in number, being opposite the petals, 

 the anthers not having a membranous tennination, 

 the presence of 5 hypogjnious scales representing 

 sterile stamens, the finiit having a septicidal de- 

 hiscence, so that the seeds adhere to the edges and 

 not the centre of the valves, and the strongly ribbed 

 and imbricated calyx. The last character brings 

 them near Tutsans, with which they accord in habit, 

 but they differ in their stipules and decidedly parietal 

 placentation. They are also said to approach Svmdews ; but this is by no means clear. 

 Endlicher points out theii' affinity with Frankeniads, from which, however, they are 

 easily distinguished by their polysepalous calyx, stipules, and anthers tm'ned outwards. 



Almost nothmg is knoAvn of theu* uses. Sauvagesia erecta, the herb of St. Martin, 

 is very mucilaginous. It has been used in BrazU for complaints in the eyes, in Peru 

 for disorders of the bowels, and in the West Indies as a diuretic, or rather in cases of 

 a shght inflammation of the bladder. 



Fig. CCXXXV. 



GENERA. 



Sauvagesia, Linn. 

 Sauvagea, Neck. 

 Iron, P. Br. 



La^Tadia, Velloz. 

 Luxemburgia, St. Hil. 

 Plectanthera , Mart, et Zucc. 



Numbers. Gen. 3. Sp. 15. 



Position. — Violaceae. — Sauvagesiace^. — Fi-ankeniaceee. 

 Hypericacece. 



Fig. CCXXXV.— Lavradia Vellozii.— ^. St. Ililairc. 1. an expanded flower j 2. the stamens with 

 extei-ior petaloid scales } 3. a seed ; 4. a section of it. 



