ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



187 



the spines. Other^ genera of this small order are even more inexplicable than this, unless 

 examined at a similarly early stage of their develoi^ment. These I pass unnoticed, not being 

 Indian plants. 



Character of the Oiider. Calyx equally 5-lobed. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, 

 irregular, throat yentrlcose, limb bilabiate, the limb subvalvate in sestivation. Disk hypogynous, 

 fleshy, or sometimes glandular. Stamens included within the tube, didynamous, with the 

 rudiment of a fifth. Anthers adnate, 2-celled ; connective articulated with the filament, slightly 

 prolonged beyond the cells, glandular at the point. Ovary seated on a glandular disk, formed 

 of 2 carpellary leaves, anterior and posterior as regards the axis, at first 1-celIed afterwards divided 

 into 2-4 or 6 spurious cells. Style 1, simple, stigma bilamellate. Fruit capsular or drupaceous, 

 dehiscent or indehiscent, few- or many-seeded ; seed (in Sesamum attached to an easily separable, 



placenta) 



plano-convex, longer than the radicle. 



or wingless, exalbuminous, embryo straight; cotyledons 



7 



smell, covered with glandular hairs or quaternary vesicles. Leaves opposite or alternate, undi- 

 vided or lobed, without stipules. Flowers axillary, solitary or clustered, usually large, furnished, 

 in many cases, with conspicuous bracts, sometimes with glands on the pedicels. 



Affinities. These plants seem closely allied to Bignoniaceoe^ a point on which all 

 Botanists appear to be agreed. Lindley remarks that the only real differences that can be 

 found between them and Bignonals consist in their parietal placentae, their wingless or nearly wing- 

 less seeds, which in most cases are definite, and sometimes in their woody lobed placentae, which 

 spread and divide variously in the inside of the pericarp, so as to produce an apparently 4- or 

 6-celled fruit, out of a 1-celled ovary. He further well remarks, "It is not a little remarkable 

 that such observers as De Candolle (Prod. 8. 249) and Endlicher, (Linnoea 7. 8) should suppose 

 the fruit of this order, to be formed out of 5 or 4 carpels, a statement entirely opposed to both 

 theory and fact, it being really composed of an anterior and posterior carpel, exactly as that of 

 the other orders of this present Alliance." As regards the alleged diiference of placentation, the 

 case is not clearly made out ; on the contrary, I am disposed to view the placentation as nearly, 

 if not quite, similar in kind in both orders, and as regards the seed, the genus Sesamopteris 

 is separated from Sesamum, mainly on that character, "semena compressa ala merabrancea 

 cineta,'*' DC. The differences, therefore, between the two orders seem to be very slight; habit 

 having, apparently, as much to do with their separation as structure. 



Geographical Distribution. The few species appertaining to this order, about 25 

 or 30, are all tropical or sub-tropical, but very widely diffused over the world. In Africa they 

 are most numerous, but America, Asia, and Australia all have their species; five or six are 

 natives of India. 



T 



Properties and Uses. The gingilie oil of India Is obtained from the seed of Sesamum 

 Indictim, and is in general use among the natives, when fresh, as "an eating oil. The leaves of 

 S. prostratum and Pedalium mureoo, render water in which they are agitated thick and muci- 

 laginous, and are therefore in some repute as demulcents and refrigerants in ardor urin^. 



Remarks on Genera akd Species. The only species on which I can venture to offer any 

 remark is Ses. prostrattim. Of this plant Pluknet published a very good figure in 1705, upwards 

 of 140 years ago, but, of course, at that time, it was imperfectly desjiribed. In 1774 Retz pub- 

 lished a good character and description, quoting Pluknefs figure. 



»t, curtly remarking: ">S'. prostratum, Retz, est planta mihi valde dubia, convenit enimpluribus 

 ^otis cum Torenia Jsiatica.'" (! 1) It thence remained unacknowledged untill 821, when Roth 

 restored it to its place in the genus ; and in 1825 Sprengel confirmed his opinion by adopting it and 

 admitting the species into his system of plants. Such being the case, it was with considerable 

 surprise I found it thus entered in DCs Prod, in 1845 : ''Sesamum prostratum, Retz,=ex Willd. 



" This species is not uncommon on the sands behind 



In 1800 Willdenow reduced 



) 



there 



ground 



