MaL VALES.] 



BYTTNERIACE^. 



363 



Order CXXVII. BYTTNERIACE^.— Byttneriads. 



Byttnenaceae, R. Browii in Flinders, 2. 540. (1814) ; Kvnth Diss. p. 6. ; DC. Prodr. 1. 481. ; Aug. St. 

 Hil. Fl. Bras. yfer. 1. 139. (a § of Malvaceae) ; Endl. Gen. ccxi. ; Meisn. Gen. p. 32 ; Wight Illiislr. 

 1. 72.— Hermanniaceas and Dombeyaceae, Bartl. Ord. Nat. 341.— Philippodendreae, Endl. Gen. 1004. 



Diagnosis. — Mahal Exogens, with monadelphous stamens, in most cases partly sterile, 

 and 2-ceUed anthers turned imcards. 

 Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs, occasionally with a climbing habit ; their sui'face usually 

 covered with stellate or forked hairs, occasionally with scurfs. Leaves alternate, simple, 



feather- vemed or hand- vein- 

 ed, commonly notched at the 



edge; stipules deciduous, in a 



few instances 0. Flowers 



often in clusters, but also in 



spikes or panicles. Calyx 



herbaceous, membranous, or 



leathery, 4- 5-lobed, valvate 



in aestivation. Corolla 0, or 



consisting of as many petals 



as there are lobes to the 



calyx, either flat, but tA\isted 



in aestivation, or arched and 



dl•a^^^l out uito a strap ; folded 



inwards at the edges and val- 

 vate in aestivation, either per- 

 manent or deciduous, often 



adhering to the tiibe of sta- 

 mens. Stamens hj^ogynous, 



definite and opposite the pe- 

 3 tals, or twice as many and 



half only fertile and opposite 



the petals, or 00, as many 



being barren as thei'e are 



sepals, and opposite them ; 



almost always united into a 



cup or tube ; anthers tm-ned 



inwards, 2-celled, opening 



lengthwise, very rarely by a 



pore or cleft near the point. 



Ovary free, sessile, or on a 



short stalk, composed of from 



4 to 1 carpels arranged round 



a central column, or reduced 



to one only ; ovules 2 in each 



cell, anatropal, ascendmg, or 



nearly horizontal, or even 



pendulous ; styles terminal, 

 consolidated ; stigmas equal in number to the cells. Fruit generally a capsule, splittmg 

 through the cells or resohniig itself into its original elements by di\'iding at the parti- 

 tions ; seeds sometimes winged, but generally roimd. Embryo generally lying in a 

 small quantity of fleshy or mucilagmous albumen, straight or bowed ; cotyledons fleshy 

 or generally leafy, enth-e or split, plaited or folded up, occasionally spu-al ; radicle 

 straight or cm-ved, next the \n\\xm.—Ghiefiy from Endllcher. 



By ttneriads are often united with Stercuhads, from which their slightly monadelphous 

 stamens, with the anthers tui'ned inwards, and, excepting the Sub-orders Hermanneie 

 and EriolEenese, the stamens partially imperfect, sufficiently divide them. Their two- 

 celled anthers and not columnar stamens distmguish them from Mallowworts. The 

 tendency to a loss of petals, an abortion of the stamens, and even a separation of the 



Fig. CCLI. 



Fig. CCLII. 



Fig. CCLI.— Byttneria celtoides.-J. St. H. 1. an expanded flower ; 2. cup of stamens ; 3. abortive 

 stamen ; 4. pistil. „ ^ j • ^i o • « t^,;* . 



Fig. CCLII.— Melochia graminifolia.— J. St. 11. 1. flower; 2. stamens and pistil; 3. ripe fruit , 

 4. a coccus; .5, section of a seed. 



