226 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 179. 



1. Plumhag 

 natural size. 



Flowering branch, 



\ 



2. Detached flower with its bract and 2 bracteols. 



3. Corolla split open with the stamens attached to a 

 thickened vein at the base. 



4. Detached stamens. 



5. Calyx and ovary, 



6. Apex of the style and stigmas. 



7. Ovary cut transversely. 



8. Cut vertically. 



9. Detached ovule. 



10. 

 IL 

 12. 

 13. 

 14. 

 15. 

 16. 

 17. 



Fructiferous calyx and withered flower. 

 Same opened to show the capsule. 

 Capsule after dehiscence. 

 Detached seed. 



Cut transversely. 



longitudinally, embryo in situ 



Detached embryo. 



Portion of the rachis of a spike. 



18. Portion of the calyx showing the glandular hairs. 



19. A 



20. 



gland. 

 Portions of a leaf. 



All more or less magnified. 



the 



« 



CXXIII,— ERYCIBE^. 



This order consists of only one genus and 7 species, it is however a curious one in its 

 structure, and its affinities are still very obscure, I may almost say, unknown. In some particu- 

 lars, such as the aestivation of the corolla, its 4 erect ovules, corrugated cotyledons and mucila- 

 ginous albumen, it approaches Convolvulacece; but it wants the style, and dicarpellary ovary of 

 that order; in place of which, as shown by its 5 stigmas, it has a 5 carpellary one, but only 

 one cell, and 4 ovules. The following graphic character of the order and genus, and remarks 

 on its affinities, are from the accurate pen of Alphonse De Candolle, who examined the flowers 

 with much care, and which I substitute for the character of the order as given hy his father. 

 *'I have not seen the fruit, but in dissections of the flowers, principally younger ones, I 

 have observed the following: Calyx lobes quincuncial in aestivation. Corolla deeply 5-cleft, 

 three times longer than the persistent calyx; lohes large, ohcordato-hifid, sericeous 

 middle of the back, the sericeous part triangular, externally valvular in asstivation, with the 

 margins folded inwards mutually adpressed, crenulate, glabrous, whence the aestivation is 

 properly enduplicato-valvate. Stamens inserted on the tube of the corolla, anthers incluse, 

 longer than the filaments, lanceolato-subulate, cordate at the base, quickly dehiscing longi- 

 tudinally ; pollen ellipsoid. Nectary none. Ovary ovoid-cylindrical, glabrous, 1-celled, some- 

 what thicker above, surmounted by a hat-like stigma. Stigma fleshy, 10-striated or costate, 

 costae equal, or alternately unequal, the larger ones in that case opposite the lobes of the 

 calyx, all subobUquely radiating towards the left. Ovules constantly 4, attached to the bottom 

 of the ovary, erect, anatropous, obovoid, filling the cavity of the ovary. Vestiges of cells, 

 or rather ? of filiform pollen tubes, descending from the upper part of the ovary above and 

 between the ovules towards the base.— Four ovules wdth 5 or 10 stigmas, and therefore 5 

 carpel-leaves, is opposed to both theories of the origin of the ovules," Fruit a 1-seeded berry, 

 cotyledons corrugated with mucilaginous albumen between the folds. 



Regarding the affinities of the order he remarks 



"It differs from Convohulaceoc, not by the baccate fruit, as remarked by my father, because 



the (juinary 

 or the genera 



in that order the fruit is sometimes baccate, hut hy the absence of a style and 

 radiating stigma, as m Papaveraceoe, and especially by the one-celled ovarv. Fo 



ovary 



of Convolvulaceae which are sometimes said to be one-celled, are in truth, at the period of 

 expansion of the flower, 2-celled, as I have seen in Parana and Shutereia (Hewetia W. and A.) 

 and on y become 1-celled at maturity when the partitions and aborted ovules can still be seen 

 under the lens. 1 he symmetry between the ovules and carpels is present in ConvoUulacecB ^i^^ 



Cordias, 



the backs of the lobes more or less contorted, but it is very different from that of the 

 iTidiVaf. a A-^ structure and evolution of the ovules, whence originates the inferior radicle, 

 Sitx ov.rt f?"' ^f '"'"^ ^''''^*" ^°^ ^^^^^ Borraginece, of Considerable moment. ~ 

 X^^V.r^K„f • .r'*.-''"'' ''^7' °^"^"'' ""^^^ t° °^ind the genus Monotheca of Theo- 

 To:ii:::k\'; ^V^^^^ ^^ '^^ --"^^ ^^^ -.^-tlon of th^e stamens, and the number 



The 



