Mr. Buowm's Observations, ^c. 77 



on the Botany of New Holiand, appended to Captain Flinders's 

 Voyage to Terra Australis. 



To these observations I shall add some remarks on certain ge- 

 nera ofConipositae, which occur repeatedly under different names 

 in late systematic works, and whose structure and limits appear 

 to be imperfectly understood. 



My first observation relates to the peculiar disposition of the 

 nerves or vessels of the corolla of this family of plants. 



In the essay ahead}' mentioned, which appeared early in the 

 summer of 1814, 1 have noticed this peculiarity in the following 

 terms : 



"The whole of Compositac agree in two remarkable points of 

 structure of their corolla; which, taken together at least, materi- 

 ally assist in determining the limits of the class. The first of these 

 is its valvular itstivation ; this however it has in common with 

 several other families. The second I believe to be peculiar to 

 the class, and hitherto unnoticed. It consists in the disposi- 

 tion of its fasciculi of vessels or nerves ; these, which at their 

 origin are generally equal in number to t\.e divisions of the co- 

 rolla, instead of being placed opposite to these divisions, and 

 passing through their axes as in other plants, alternate with them; 

 each of the vessels at the top of the tube dividing into two equal 

 branches, running parallel to and near the margins of the corre- 

 sponding laciniae, within whose apices they unite. These, as they 

 exist in the whole class and are in great part of it the only ves- 

 sels observable, may be called primary. In several genera, how- 

 ever, other vessels occur, alternating with the primary, and occu- 

 pying the axes of the lacinia; : in some cases these secondary ves- 

 sels being most distinctly visible in the laciniac, and becoming 

 gradually fainter as they descend the tube, might be regarded as 

 recurrent; originating from the united apices of the primary 



branches ; 



