ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. Gj 



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Hab.— Malabar.— Z)r. Wight. 



Lignosus, glaber, parasiticus. Folia opposita, petiolata, petiolo 2-4 lineas loiigo, ovato- 

 lanceolata, seu elliptico-oblonga, obtusa, basi rotundata, penninervia, crassa, coriacea. Pedun- 

 cult fasciculati ad ramos annotinos orti, brevissimi, apice involucruin sangulneum gamophvllum 

 campaniilatum magnum 4-5-lobum fcrentes. Flores 4-5 in funcio iiivolucri subsessiles. Coly- 

 cis limhus cupularis merabranaceus, repando-5-dentatus. Corolla puberula, tubulosn, involu- 

 crum duplo superans, apice supra medium quinquefida, versus laciniarum basin per a-stivationom 

 inflatim annulata, laclniis linearibus demum reflexis. Antherce erecta?. — Am. 



• t "^^^^ ^^ perhaps the most beautiful of the Genus. Its blood-red involucres are about ati 

 inch long, and four to six lines across. — Am. 



P. S. When preparing the preceding portion of this article, I had not materials at band 

 for furnishing correct analyses of the flowers of this family. These I have now obtained of two 

 genera, Viscum and Loranthus ; (see table 122,) those for the former taken from V. orieiitale, 

 for the latter from the fi variety of L. lonicer aides. The former, however, I now find departs 

 from the character of the genus In havirf^ diandrous flowers (not tetrandrou,>), and an erect, 

 not pendulous ovule, whence I presume it ought to form the type of a new genus. Here the 

 anterior and posterior sepals only bear anthers, they, however, agree with those of Viscum in 

 being cellular. The principal peculiarity of the species of Loranthus, here represented, is the 

 tubular extension of the, so called, calyx,. or rim surmounting the ovary, the true nature of 

 ■which is still undetermined, being equally present, though less developed, in Viscum, but in 

 that genus the perianth is called calyx, and the parts sepals, while in Loranthus it is called 

 corolla and petals, both of which can scarcely be right. On this subject, Lindley well remarks : 



"It is customary to call the floral envelopes of the genera of Loranths by the name of 

 sepals in Viscum,^ and of petals in Loranthus, because in the latter genus we find a cup-like 

 expansion, which is regarded as a calyx. It seems, however, impossible to doubt that the parts 

 of the perianth are really of the same nature in both instances, as is proved moreover by the 

 etamens, which are applied to their face in both cases. Schleiden, indeed, calls the male flower 



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face of four calycine sepals. The rim exterior to the calyx, which has given rise to the idea 

 that the coloured part of a Loranth is corolla. Is present in Viscum also, in the form of a slight 

 annular swelling ; and is in all probability analogous to the raised line terminating the cup, from 

 which the sepals spring in Chryseis or Eschscholtxia. In fact we must in theory regard the 

 flower of a Loranth to consist of a fleshy, cup-like expansion of the end of a branch, from the 

 upper edge of which expansion the sepals rise'."" 



These views, in which I quite coincide, mainly on the ground of the position of the 

 stamens opposite the lobes of the perianth, show that this is not a truly dichlamydeous family, 

 and that it Is erroneously placed here. If the perianth of Loranthus be a corolla with the 

 stamens opposite the lobes, that structure would establish an afiinity with Primulacece and 

 Myrsiniacece, not borne out by other characters, and which therefore has not been noticed by 

 systematic writers. But viewed as a stameniferous calyx, herbaceous in Viscum and petaloid 

 in Loranthus, its affinities are altered, and it takes its place among a large group of orders 

 coinciding in that structure. 



In addition to the remark above, under geographical distribution, that they are sometimes 

 found growing on lactescent plants, I have since become acquainted with an additional instance 

 in the case of my L. Euphorhicc, which I have always found growing on the very milky stems 

 of E. tortilis, but never itself milky, showing its eliminating power : while on the other hand, 

 I have been informed that when growing on the Nux vomica, they become poisonous, acquiring 

 the properties of the fostering tree. 



