540 



CALYCANTHACE^. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCVII. CALYCANTHACE^.— Calycanths. 



Calycanthege, Lindl. in Bot. Reg.fol. 404. (1819) ; DC. Prodr. 3. 1. ; Endl. Gen. ccLxxi. ; Meisner Gen. 

 p. 106.— Calycanthinae, Link. Enum. 2. 66. (1822). 



Diagnosis. — Eosal Exogens, whose Jlotvers consist of nunieroios imbricated scales, and have 



convolute cotyledons. 



Shrubs, with square stems, having 4 woody imperfect axes, surrouuding the central ordi- 

 nary one. Leaves opposite, simple, scabrous, without stipules. Flowers axillary, solitary. 

 Sepals and petals confounded,indefinite, imbricated, combined in a fleshy tube. Stamens 



CCCLXVIII. 



indefinite, inserted in a fleshy rim at the mouth of the tube, the inner sterile ; anthers 

 adnate, turned outwards. Ovaries several, simple, 1 -celled, with one terminal style, adher- 

 ing to the inside of the tube of the calyx. Ovules anatropal, sohtaiy, or sometimes 2, of 

 which one is abortive, ascending. Nuts mclosed in the fleshy tube of the calyx, 1- 

 seeded, indehiscent. Seed ascenduig ; albumen none ; cotyledons convolute, with their 

 face next the axis ; radicle inferior. 



Jussieu originally placed this Order at the end of Roseworts ; he subsequently re- 

 ferred it to Monimiads ; and I afterwards formed it into a particular family. With 

 Monimiads it is less neai'ly related than it appears to be, the principal points of resem- 

 blance being the collection of several nuts within a fleshy calyx m both Orders ; for 

 Calycanths can scarcely be considered apetalous, as some Monimiads are, on account 

 of the obvious petals of Chimonanthus. The imbricated sepals, in Calycanthus chocolate- 

 colom'ed and becoming confounded \vith the petals, the fragi'auce of the flowers, and the 

 plurality of ovaries, seem to indicate an affinity with Magnoliads, and especially with 

 Illicium ; but the decidedly perigynous stamens and fleshy calyx inclosing the ovaries 

 in its tube, the liighly developed embryo, and want of albumen, are great objections to 

 such an approximation. Myrobalans agree ui having an exalbuminous embryo, with 

 convolute cotyledons ; but with this their resemblance ceases. Myrtleblooms also agree 

 in this same particvdar, in the case of Punica ; and their opposite leaves, mthout sti- 

 pides, and frequent fi'agrance, strengthen the affinity indicated by the embryo. Rose- 

 worts, however, to which Jussieu originaUy referred Calycanthus, agree much more 

 nearly in the perigjTious insertion of their stamens, in the peculiar structm'e of their 

 calyx, the tube of wliich in the Rose is eutu*ely analogous to that of Calycanths, in the 

 superposition of their o^Tiles when two are present, and in the high development of 

 theu' exalbuminous embryo ; upon the whole, therefore, no Order appears to have so 

 much affinity with Calycanths as Roseworts ; and the sagacity of Jussieu, in originally 

 referrmg Calycanthus to that Order, is completely confirmed by the discovery recently 

 made by Lowe, that the cotyledons of Chamsemeles, a genus of Appleworts, are convo- 

 lute. This, I think, fixes the station of Calycanths in the neighbom'hood of Roseworts, 

 from which they are distinguished by the imbricated sepals, and the anthers, partly 



Fig. CCCLXVIII.— Calycanthus floridus. 1. a flower; 2. the same without the sepals and petals ; 

 .a perpendicular section of the last ; 4. a section of an ovary ; 5. a nut ; 6. an embryo ; 7. a transverse 

 section of it. 



