NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 99 
ANAGALLIS Pi a (Linn) roots herbace- Duby asks oe this'a genuine species ? The 
ous : decumben branches elongated, 4 question is not easily answered but so far as my 
sided, slightly valied: “teaves tr e or ternate sete on scisielinios with A. arvensis enables me 
d emiamplexicaul, subacute, spreading: to judge, I confess I feel disposed to answer in the 
peduncles longer than the leaves : calyx a little shor- nbative e, thou a on ‘ae Sieg > YJ my Neilgherry 
ter than the corolla, lobes narrow page ing eee specimens wit. ean ones of A. arvensis there 
acuminate : corolla nearly twice as long a sta- does appear Soa “di erence, “This more nearly ap- 
mens, sted obovate obtuse, finely se prtake: Sane proaches the variety 4. c@rulea, i anrogest a R not 
hairy: capsule about the length of the calyx. D. C. that very plant, of which however I have not a good 
rod. specimen to compare. The Indian plant is ocak more 
eilgherries, in corn fields and other cultivated luxuriant than the European, 
lands: flowers blue 
MYRSINEACE. 
As already stated under Primulacez this order is but a section of that, in so far as 
orders rest on the structure of the organs of fructification ; Myrsineacee having, like Primu- 
lacee, an inferior calyx and corolla, the stamens attached to the middle of the lobes, not 
alternate with them, and a free central Placenta covered with ovules. In habit they 
differ widely, Primulacee being generally herbaceous with capsular fruit, Myrsineacee 
shrubby or arboreous with drupaceous fruit. In this family, as in several others, we meet 
with two of those departures from the usual structure which are ever crossing the path of 
the systematist, to the material disturbance and derangement of his arrangements, as if to 
keep constantly reminding him, that nature will not submit to the trammels of human 
systems but will have her own way in forming family ties and relationships between families 
apparently widely separated. The character of this order is to have the ovary free with 
numerous ovules and the mature fruit, through the abortion of all the ovules but one, 
with asingle full grown seed. In JMesathe ovary is inferior, that is, enclosed within the 
tube of the calyx and the berry contains many seed: and in Embelia and Samara the 
corolla is polypetalous, or in other words the petals of whichit is composed have departed 
from the character of the family by remaining uncombined. 
The inferior fruit of Mesa places that genus in more or less intimate connexion 
with a whole group of orders having epigynous flowers while it is still retained among its 
more immediate relations by the position of its stamens opposite the lobes of the corolla 
and by its free central placenta. The polypetalous flowers of mbelia and Samara 
again bring them into connection with another set of families having polypetalous flowers, 
but here again the stronger ties of stamen bearing petals and free central placenta overcome 
the weaker ones of non-cohering petals and retain it among the Primulaceous group. 
Looking back to the remarks made under Vacciniacee which Dr. Lindley has 
removed from the Epigynous to the Hypogynous group we can scarcely help feeling sur- 
prised that this section is passed unnoticed by him though open to the same objections. 
This family which now includes about 320 species was all but unknown to Lin- 
neus, two species only being described by him namely Samara leta and Myrsine Afri- 
cana. Of the credit of having detected and well defined the former of these genera he 
had very nearly been deprived, though nothing can be more precise than his character. 
The circumstance of course does not originate in any wish to depriye him of the merit 
I 
