648 NYCTAGINACEA. ° 
Sub-class IIT. Monochlamydeex or Incomplete. — 
This sub-class is frequently arranged in two sub-divisions, 
which are called, respectively, the Angiospermia and Gymno- 
spermia ; but the plants of the latter group present such striking 
differences in their characters from those of other Dicoty- 
ledones, that they are now more generally placed in a division 
by themselves, as is the case in this volume, at the end of the 
Phanerogamia. ' 
In this sub-class we follow in all essential particulars the 
arrangement of the Orders and characters of the Cohorts, as 
given by Sir Joseph Hooker in the English edition of Le Maout 
and Decaisne’s ‘Traité Général de Botanique,’ instead of that 
adopted by Bentham and Hooker in ‘ Genera Plantarum,’ where 
the following ‘Series’ are given instead of ‘Cohorts’ :—1. 
Curvembryee. 2. Multiovulatz aquatice. 3. Multiovulatz 
terrestres. 4. Micrembryez. 5. Daphnales. 6. Achlamydo- 
sporee. 7. Unisexuales. 8. Ordines anomali. For a full 
description of the characters of these Series, and for lists of the 
Orders grouped under them respectively, reference should be 
made to ‘ Genera Plantarum.’ 
Series 1. Supere. 
Cohort 1. Chenopodiales.— Flowers usually hermaphrodite, 
or sometimes unisexual. Calyx green or coloured, generally 
regular ; tube short or absent ; segments imbricate in esti- 
vation. Ovary superior, generally simple, or rarely com- 
pound ; ovule solitary, basal, or rarely 2 or more. Seeds 
usually albuminous, or rarely exalbuminous; embryo gene- 
rally curled or coiled. Usually herbs or shrubs, or very 
rarely trees. 
Order 1. NycTaGInacE#, the Marvel of Peru Order.— 
Character.—Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with the stems usually 
tumid at the joints. Leaves generally opposite and entire. 
Flowers with an involucre. Calyx* tubular or funnel-shaped, 
often coloured, plaited in estivation, contracted towards the 
middle, its base persistent and ultimately becoming indurated 
and forming a spurious pericarp. Stamens 1 or many, hy- 
pogynous. Ovary superior, 1-celled; ovule solitary; style 1; 
stigma 1. Frwit a utricle, enclosed by the hardened persistent 
base of the calyx. Seed solitary ; embryo coiled round mealy 
albumen (fig. 781), with foliaceous cotyledons, and an inferior 
radicle. 
* When there is but one floral envelope in Dicotyledons, we call that the 
calyx, whatever be its colour or other peculiarity, in which nomenclature 
we follow the example of Lindley. By most botanists, however, the term 
perianth is employed in such cases, but we use that name only in speaking 
of Monocotyledons. (See page 223.) 
