496 



CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



Order CLXXXVIII. CARYOPHYLLACEiE.— Cloveworts. 



Caryophyllese, Juss. Gen. 299. (1789) ; De Cand. Prodr. 1. 388. (1824) ; Endl.Gen. ccvii. ; Meisner Gen. 

 24.— SUenese, DC. Prodr. 1. 351. (1824) ; Barti. Ord. Nat. 305. (1830) ; Braun in Ann. Sc. Nat. 2. 

 ser. XX. 170.— Alsinese, DC. Fl. Franc. Ed. 3. 4. 766. (1805) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 204. (1830) ; Feiizl. 

 Versuch. (1833).- Queriaceae, I>(7. Prodr. 3. 379. (1828).— Minuartiese, /d. (1828).— MoUuginese, 

 Fenzl. Moiiogr.—Steudelix, lb. 



Diagnosis. — Silenal Exogefis, loith symmeti'ical floioers, a conspicuous coi'olla, amphitropal 

 ovules, and opposite leaves without stipules. 



Herbaceous plants, occasionally becoming suffrutescent. Stems tumid at the articu- 

 lations. Leaves always opposite and entire, often connate at the base. Flowers Q , 

 occasionally imperfect by 

 abortion, variously arranged. 

 Sepals 4-5, continuous with 

 the pedimcle, persistent, dis- 

 tinct, or cohering in a tube. 

 Petals 4-5, hj-pogjTious, \m- 

 guiculate, inserted upon the 

 pedicel of the ovary ; fre- 

 quently spUt into 2 parts, 

 occasionally wanting. Sta- 

 mens usually twice as many 

 as the petals, sometimes 

 equal in number to the sepals 

 and opposite them, occasion- 

 ally fewer, inserted upon the 

 pedicel of the ovary along 

 with the petals ; filaments 

 subulate, sometimes mona- 

 delphous ; anthers innate, 

 2-celled, opening longitudi- 



Fig. CCCXL. 1 



nally. Ovary stipitate on the apex of a pedicel (called the gynophore), composed of 

 from 2 to 5 carpels, whose edges ai-e either adherent and valvate, or turned inwards so 

 as sometimes to touch the free central placenta ; stigmas 2-5, sessile, fihform, papillose 

 on the inner surface ; ovules few or 00, amphitropal. Capsule 2-5-valved, either 

 1 -celled or 2-5-celled, m the latter case with a locuHcidal dehiscence. Placenta central, 

 in the 1 -celled capsules distinct, in the 2-5-celled capsules adheruag slightly to the edge 

 of the dissepiments. Seeds mdefinite in number, rarely definite ; albmnen mealy ; 

 embryo external, curved round the albumen, sometunes straight, very rarely spiral, 

 with hardly any albumen ; radicle pointmg to the hilimi. 



Fig. CCCXL. 1. Stellaria Holostea ; 2. pistil, calyx and petals of Lychnis Flos Cuculi 

 tion of its pistil ; 4. vertical section of its seed. 



J. vertical sec- 



