640 



PLUMBAGINACE^. 



[Perigynoitk f^-"^it^s' 



Order CCXLV. PLUMBAGINACE^.— Leadworts. 



Plumbagines, Juss. Gen. 92. (1789).— Plumbaginese, R. Brown, Prodr. 425. (1810); Ehel de ArmerKe 

 Gen. Prodr. ; Endl. Gen. cxvii.; Meisner Gen. p. 315 ; Barndoud M^moire, sur les Plumbagin^es. 



DlAGNOSIS.- 



Cortusal Exogens, with the stamens opposite the petals, 

 seeded fruit, 5 styles, and a herbaceous stem. 



ranous one- 



Herbaceous plants or under-shrubs, variable in appearance. Leaves alternate or 

 clustered, undivided, somewhat sheathing at the base, but without stipules, sometimes 



marked with transparent dots. Flowers either 

 loosely panicled, or contracted into heads, flower- 

 ing u'regularly. Calyx tubular, plaited, persistent, 

 sometimes coloured. Corolla of very thin tex- 

 ture, monopetalous, with a narrow angular tube, 

 or of 5 petals, which have a long narrow claw. 

 Stamens definite, opposite the petals, in the mono- 

 petalous species hypogynous ! in the polypetalous 

 arising from the petals ! ovary superior, com- 

 posed of 5 (or 3 or 4) valvate carpels, 1-celled, 

 1 -seeded ; ovule anatropal, pendulous from the 

 point of an umbilical cord, arising from the 

 bottom of the cavity ; styles 5 ! seldom 3 or 4 ; 

 stigmas the same number. Finait a nearly inde- 

 hiscent utricle. Seed inverted, with a rather 

 small quantity of mealy albumen ; testa simple ; 

 embryo straight ; radicle superior. 



Distinguished from all monopetalous Orders 

 by then' plaited calyx and sohtary o\nile, sus- 

 pended from the apex of a cord which arises 

 from the base of a 1-celled ovary, with several 

 stigmas. They are nearly related to Primworts, 

 in then* habit, if Armeria is compared with An- 

 drosace, and as is indicated by the opposition of 

 the stamens to the lobes of the corolla ; but they 

 have less albumen and a larger embryo than pro- 

 perly belongs to the Cortusal AUiance, of which 

 they must be looked upon as one of the most out- 

 lying Orders. The economy of the ovule is 

 highly curious ; before fecundation it is suspended 

 from the apex of a cord, or rather strap, which 

 lies over the foramen or orifice through which the vivifying mfluence of the pollen has 

 to be introduced ; this foramen is presented to the summit of the cell immediately below 

 the origin of the stigmas, but has no communication with that part of the cell, from con- 

 tact with which it is fm-ther cut off by the overlymg strap ; but as soon as the pollen 

 exercises its influence upon the stigmas, the strap sUps aside from above the foramen, 

 which is entered by an extension of the apex of the cell, and thus a du-ect communication' 

 is established between the pollen and the inside of the o^^lle. This phenomenon is ob- 

 scurely hinted at by several wTiters,but was first distinctly shown me by Dr. Brown, and 

 has since been beautifully illustrated by Mirbel, Nouvelles Recherches sur V Ovule, tab. 4. 

 Accordmg to Koch, the smgular sheath which in Anneria invests the top of the scape, 

 and which Ray supposed to be of the nature of a calyptra, is nothmg more than the base 

 of the involucral leaves, in a state of adhesion. 



Many are inhabitants of the salt marshes and sea-coasts of the temperate parts of the 

 world, particularly of the basin of the Mediterranean, the southern proAdnces of the 

 Russian empire, and especially of Affghanistan. The Koollah-i-Huzareh, which forms 

 a large part of the fuel of Cabul, consists of various species of Statice. Others grow 

 from Greenland and the mountains of Europe, to the sterile volcanic regions of Cape 

 Horn. A few are found within the tropics ; of these Plumbago zeylanica extends from 

 Ceylon to Port Jackson, and ^gialitis grows among the IMangroves of northern Austral- 

 asia. Vogelia is from the Cape of Good Hope, and Ceratostigma from China. 



Fig. CCCCXXVIII.— Armeria vulgaris. 1. calyx and stamens; 2. section of corolla; 3. pistil; 4. 

 ovule ; 5. embrj'O. 



CCCCXXVIII. 



