McATEE: VIBURNUM AND THE CAPRIFOLIACEAE 153 
merged with its nearest relatives, will it remain a unit? Thus the 
Cichorieae, sometimes considered a family and sometimes ranged 
with the Compositae, do not in the latter process become scattered 
through the tribes of the Compositae but retain their integrity 
as a group. What happens to the Caprifoliaceae when this test 
is applied? It immediately becomes apparent that they have no 
character in common that will hold them together; they run to 
tribes in all parts of the Rubiaceae, some have one-seeded, others 
more than one-seeded carpels; some have dry fruits, others berries; 
some have the ovules suspended from the top of the ovaries, 
others from the septa. The variety of character with regard to 
verticillation of the leaves and the presence of stipules has been 
sufficiently set forth in preceding paragraphs. Some of the 
effects of this diversity upon their relation to the Rubiaceae are 
stated by Schumann, as follows: ‘‘The Diervillieae, for instance, 
have a surprising similarity in flower, fruit, and seed structure to 
the Cinchoneae; in the last analysis they are differentiated only 
by the lack of stipules in the former. Certain forms of Lonicereae, 
which are characterized by stipules (Pentapyxis), incline likewise 
to the tribe of Rubiaceae with numerous seeds, while some species 
of Viburnum, which are provided with stipules, harmonize with 
the Guettardeae.’’* 
It would appear, therefore, that the Caprifoliaceae can not 
pass a test which should leave any satisfactory plant family intact, 
and with all due respect to those most erudite botanists, Bentham 
and Hooker, it would appear that their statement that the Cap- 
rifoliaceae are ‘‘a very natural order”’{ was made without sufficient 
consideration. Schumann appears to be more correct when he 
says ‘‘The Rubiaceae show the closest relationship to the Cap- 
rifoliaceae; various groups of them are so intimately related that 
one can raise no important objection to Baillon’s view that the 
two families blend into one.” 
An even stronger statement is made by Fritsch relating to 
the group upon which he specialized: ‘The Caprifoliaceae are so 
closely allied to the Rubiaceae that it is impossible to give even 
one positive differential character for the two families.”"~ It would 
” * Engler & Prantl, Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien 44:13. 1897- 
7 Genera Plantarum 2:1. 1873. 
t Engler & Prantl, Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien 4!~5: 160. 1897- 
