178 ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



if correct, would hardly be conclusive ; for in Gentianeos there is at least one genus haTing 

 quaflrlfid and another with qninquefid flowers, in which the carpels are not lateral, but anterior 

 g,nd posterior, as I believe them to be in OrobanchecB ; nor has it ever been supposed that 

 in Gentianete the disk or axis is ovuliferous.** 



Between two such eminent philosophers I will not venture to hold the scales, but may 

 perhaps he allowed to express my own impressions which are in favour of the latter view, a con- 

 clusion at which I had arrived hefore I clearly understood the drift of the arguments of either, 

 gn the faith of the appearances which I have endeavoured to get accurately delineated in the 

 accompanying analyses, which I think are opposed to Lindley's views. But I must equally admit 

 that one difficulty, and not a light one, stands in the way of its adoption ; I allude to the fact 

 of the placentae being opposite or rather continuous in many, if not all Orobanchs, with the lobes 

 of the stigma, whether these are anterior and posterior, or lateral. This statement I make 

 principally on the faith of Renter's generic characters, as I have not at present the means 

 of verifying it, except in one or two instances. 



Assuming this to be the case, is it susceptible of explanation in such a way as to preserve 

 the analogy, so general throughout the vegetable kingdom, that the carpillary margins are the 

 «eats of the placentae, and that the placentae of a simple ovariuni are necessarily double as be- 

 ing derived from the union of two carpillary margins whether in the axis or parietes of the cell. 



I at once acknowledge my inability to adduce facts that carry full conviction to my 

 own mind, but Papaveracece furnishes a case in point and by many Cruciferce is believed to 

 furnish another, where, it is presumed, the lobes of the stigma, which, as in Orobanchacece are con- 

 tmuons with the placenta*, are each made up of the union of a placentary vein from each of two 

 carpels or in other words of two half lobes. If this is the case in that family, why not 

 m OrohanchncecB ? I am aware that a very different explanation is given of the formation of the 

 capsule of Cruciferce, but still I doubt whether It is more satisfactory. And the venation of 

 the corolla of the whole family of Compositce may be adduced as furnishing an analogous exam- 

 pie ot parts being supplied with vessels from 2 sources, each segment of the corolla having 

 two marginal veins but very rarely one in the axis. Assuming for an instant, that one of these 

 corollas became converted into a 4- or S-carpelled capsule, we should still have marginal placentae, 



» Z -v.! ^'^'^-^^ continuous, not alternate, with the stigmatic lobes. This view, 



Whether right or wrong, can claim in its favour the fact that many Orobanchs have the lobes of 

 the stigma emargmate, as if made up of two sets of vessels, and derived from two carpels. Here 

 Lh!^ ! ^I'^f stu>n for the consideration of men more competent to the task and in possession ' 

 better materials for its investigation than I happen to have at my command. 



but Sl-«r nt^l"'"'* P'^'^'^M 'T'""]^-- ^^'^P^' ^^"^^' Asia and America, have all their species, 

 thev aJ nrS ni^f ' ^T.^^}^' ^"^ ^'f vT' "*'"" ^^^^ ^^^ ^'^^ ^^t^^ted in Australia. In India 

 ttTuisherthrw-in Y' "\ "' "^l ^'^^'^' '"^'"^ °^°^« ^^-^^^^""3^ «^»g^t for and the species well dis- 

 STttm in^l 1 -1^ ^'^ 1^ T'-" "'^"^'^^'^^ ^^^" ^« "°^ ^x^vU^^- I have most frequently 

 raLs durTn^ J f.hV"^ ' T ^ -f ^'^^'' 'l^""''^ *^ ^^^ ^"fl"«"«^ ^f the south-west monsoon 

 oX' is extir; Iv ;. ;^[■^,^"'?•V^^l'«PH'•^P^^^^i^^• The plant selected to illustrate the 

 cdtiv.ted and k { ttf r^ 'i'' ^^^^^^ -^''^'^^ ^" ^^^^^ ^^^^^ricts where Tobacco is largely 

 tTon in Srch and L?? L "*t^°V^f^ "'J""""' ^««^- ^^ Coimbatore it is in full perfec- 

 the Lv trt Tndi^rn '*^%*^^ Tobacco crops are approaching maturity. It is, I believe, 

 other genera ^'«^^"^1^-' ^" the other species,%eferabk to the order, belonging to 



*rder^* But^'uule "^^^JlZX A stringency and bitterness are the predominating qualities of this 



of 



