38 ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



double floral envelopes, thatis, a calyx and corolla, thereby, defermining its place in (he system, 

 solely by the structure of the ovary, leaving the corona, ihe most conspicuous part of the flower, 

 altogether out of their consideration. 



In this it appears to me all have erred, for if the above stated axiom is of any value it must 

 be either uniformly acted up to, or altogetlier discarded, and to say merely that they are pro- 

 cesses gives no information. Lindley remarks of them, that they are *' apparently mefanior- 

 phosed petals," and afterwards adds. " The nature of the filamentous appendages, or rays as 

 they are called, which proceed from the orifice of the tube, and of the membranous or fleshy, 

 entire or lobed. flat or plaited, annular processes which lie between the petals and the stamens, 

 is ambiguous. I am disposed to refer them to a peculiar form of petals, rather than to the 

 stamens, for reasons which [ have assigned in the Hort. Trans, vol. G, page 309, for under- 

 standing the normal metamorphoses of parts of fructification to be centri-pefal." In this opinion 

 1 fully coincide as, to me, it appears quite unquestionable that these filamentous or annular 

 processes constitute in reality the corolh^ of these curious and unique flowers as they occupy the 

 same place in the flower which, in more regular flowers, the corolla does. There is a double 



series of sepals, in like manner there is doable series of these processes, at least so it is in P. 

 lauvina, the species now before me, the exterior smaller the interior larger. In further con- 

 firmation of this view we fiad between them and stamens, the regular situation, the torus, but so 

 much produced that after lining the tube of the calyx (the true nectarium of this plant,) it forms 

 a curiam, as it were, embracing the podocarp,by which the communication between the upper and 

 lower portions of the tube is intercepted (see plate lOS, fig. 4j. Should this explanation be ad- 

 muted, we can satisfactorily account for a portion of the structure, not hitherto dearly made out, 

 and at the same time enable us with strict propriety to retain the order in its present place, 

 among the polypetalous orders. 



^ Theabove character might then be thus modified : sepals 10 (rarely R) in a dou!)le series, the 

 inner series petaloid, united below into a more or les.s elmigHt.d tube: coroll. peri->nous. poly- 

 petalous, heteromorphous, composed of numerous fibtmentous or annnlnr processes , "torus lining 

 the tube of the calyx reflexed at the insertion of the cor..lU for.ning a free Inar.nn Stamens. &c 



.r.r.A l\ T' 7' ^^u""""' '.''^^ '"'^ ^"^ ^^ ^^'^ fl"*^'- '« concerned, we cannot without 

 considerable violence adopt the op.nion above quoted, that .be pa^^icm flo.er is liMle else than 



less clTw. f^Tt^ '•''•^'''''''' "" C"^"^*^'^"^^'0'^S pbu.t having su.b a cun.plex flower, still 

 aTe mo t wide!? liff.'r T^ H 0"f ^'^-Pariso.i of .he fruit, « hich a. Mated under in vrbimceae, 



WX itafedL LdonTi ^f ^" T'^ '"^ ^'^'^ '^^"' ^■'"'^^'- '" "^ ^ "" «''''-•''. ^ should not 



fa,r,ilfhtt"r™clZ„rr''i .■'^'t'a.lysmie.l An,erica i, the l,ea.I quarlevs of this 

 lope^' rSoa rWriaanrl/h w'^ f '^ »',"' '!>'; "■"Pi'^al P"'' "f Australia, none to Eu- 



Lve'o Hably 2;„Ls Ma "p /^^^^^^ P' i]'" •■'-'"» ^""!A'« »e have 



v.ro, hills a/d P.'.;:/:;; j. tl ^e^^T^tp^m) N„l,he,rie,, I'u ...vs and She- 



Malacca. The cne I have f^.-nr. 1 ». ' Mal„Ka„o found in Ihe .Straights of 



before I ha< an r„„wn,iu^f pi ;• ''t"'' •"' '^ """'''' ""' ""= impr.'^ion pinled 



garden of the HorSm , SodeU f'\? '''"'"' "P^""""'^. ' l'"^'- «ince met' with .t in the 



figure that I have n^d , h of "^ eit Ir^^r'a?; M ^7^'^ -"«»P""*..g » ith the 



either P. m;„i,„., „, P. ,„6.,.l :„?,]i%?r;,,"'lj'!;''. '■■"'" '^f character, 1 consider 



r«ally (Itstmct from both 

 it formed the bases of 



very »e„ .i„ „ led .pechnenVrrri;iV/pe;:i;;:\;i;: '^'.Cd Wore „ ', ■ 



The ijeims M„Uecm, h princinallv of Asiatic anrl" >f ■ '"" ■" '''P''- 



iione has yet been ohserved ia \.„ .H -a ThTl ""■*, ^f'"^>" »"«'". "ne is from Autralia, hot 



Java than India, half of those de^cSd beLg CrihaTwand''''''" '" ^' """" ""■""""' '" 



^ .mbe,OH, species, judgiog from characters only, scarcely disrinct .'f 

 ecin^ens r.^t.," ' L !; I^'. u!!'"'^"^ * '^'^^"^ represented by him agrees 



f 



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