ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 195 



■m 



Of 900 species mentioned by Lindley as belonging to the order, tbe Indian collections!, 



Wallich 



Waipe 



as many of Nees"* varieties are there described as species. But after making every allowance, 

 the order must still be viewed as one of secondary, botanical, importance in the Indian Flora. 



Character of the Order, Calyx 5-parted seldom, 4-parted, persistent, inferior. Corolla 

 monopetalous, hypogynous, deciduous ; limb 5-cleft, seldom 4-cleft, regular or rarely somewhat 

 unequal ; the aestivation plaited or imbricate or even valvate. Stamens inserted on the corolla, 

 as many as the segments of the limb, with which they are alternate; anthers bursting longi- 

 tudinally, rarely by pores at the apex, ovary 2-celled, composed of a pair of carpels right and 

 left of the axis, rarely 4-5- or many-celled, with polyspermous placentae; style continuous; 

 stigma simple; ovules numerous, amphitropal. Pericarp with 2 or 4, or many cells, either a 

 capsule with double dissepiment parallel wdth the valves, or a berry w^ith the placenta? adhering 

 to the dissepiment. Seeds numerous; embryo straight or curved, often out of the centre, 

 lying in fleshy albumen ; radicle near the hilum. — Herbaceous plants and shrubs. Leaves 

 alternate undivided or lobed, sometimes collateral; the floral ones sometimes double, and 

 placed near each other. Inflorescence variable often out of the axil; the pedicels without 

 bracts. — The anthers of Solmium open by pores. Nicodana multivalms has many cells in the 

 capsule as has Lycopersicum. Nicandra is 5-celled ; Datura 4-celled. Lindley. 



In regard to these anomalies, it may be remarked, in passing, that I do not suppose it is the 

 intention of the author to imply that Nicotiana miiltivalvis and Lycopersiciim have, in their 

 normal state, a many-carpelled ovary, but simply to state that, in the cultivated forms, in which 

 they are now always seen, these changes, the effect of culture, have become nearly permanent, 

 at all events so constant that, out of a dozen flowers examined, probably not more than 1 or 2 

 will be found with fewer than 6 or 8 cells. I infer this to be his meaning because the result 

 of my examinations has led to the conclusion that, in its normal state, Lycoperskum is, like 

 the bulk of the order, dicarpellary. Nicotiana muUivalvis I have never seen. Nicandra is 

 said to have a 5-celled capsule, perhaps a typographical error, as Gaertner, Endlicher, Meisner, 

 and Walpers all assign to it a 3-4-celled capsule ; but whether it is so or not, I am in this case, as 

 much as in the former, disposed to doubt in this genus, in its normal state, the presence of more 

 than 2 carpels. As my specimens of Nicandra are not however very good, I cannot venture further 

 than merely to express a doubt of the correctness of former observation, simply with a view to 

 caUing attention to this point which, I think, well merits careful investigation. I urge this partly 

 as the result of direct examination of the ovary and of dried fruit in different stages of advance- 

 " ment, partly from what I have observed in Datura, also said to be 4-celled, but which has 

 certainly a dicarpellary ovary, as the accompanying sections, taken from the same ovary, 

 clearly prove. The supplementary partitions, being formed from thickening of the_ parietes, 

 not derived from additional carpels combiuing to form a 4-carpellary fruit, are spurious. As 

 regards Datura, I speak with certainity as to its fruit being dicarpellary. Of mcandra 

 though less certain, I still feel but little doubt of such being the case there also. And with 

 respect to Lycopersicum, if there be actually plurality of carpels, it is as much a monstrosity m 

 that genus, as 1 2 fingers and toes are in the human hands and feet. But while I thus feel almost 

 certain that in these three genera the dicarpellary structure of the ovary is the normal form, 



Nicandra 



I think that the variations observed in their placentae will be found to furnish interesting matter 

 for the investigation of the philosophical Botanist. That of ^^— ^-^^ - .Prfnmlv verv curious. 



Affinities. On this head some differences of opinion exist but not great. All Botanists 

 a«r^« :„ +i,:..i..- _ n.„t n T, „^ „^n.T^ ^<.iof«;r fn Sinrnnkulariacece that at some pomts it seems 



that, 



M 



groups 



other irregular flowlrs. The orders, however, associated with ScrophulariacecB^e^m to accord 

 tetter with its characters, than those among which Solanacew is arranged do with its. 



