naturnl Famih/ of Plants called Cojnposiice. 89 



riuni of Composita\ I am not aware of any thing having been 

 \i\ said on this subject further than that it contains a single erect 

 oviilum, inserted at the base of the cavity, hi addition to this, 

 I observe in the greater part of Compositae, whose ovarium I have 

 examined, two very slender filiform cords, which, originatino- from 

 opposite points of the base of the ovulum, or of its short footstalk, 

 run up, and are more or less connected with, the lateral parietes of 

 the ovarium, until they unite at the top of its cavity, immediately 

 under the style ; between which and the ovulum a connexion is 

 thus formed. In many cases, as in Liatris spicaia and Tiissilago 

 vflorafa, these cords are easily separable from the ovarium, and have 

 such a degree of tenacity that they may be extracted from it en- 

 tire, along with the ovulum. In other cases they more firmly co- 

 here with the sides of the cavity : and in those plants in which I 

 have been unable to see them distinctly, I conclude they are not 

 absolutely wanting, but that their connexion with the parietes is 

 still more intimate. 



These cords may be supposed to consist either solely of the 

 vessels through which the ovulum is foecundated, or to contain 

 also the remains or indications of a s^'stem of nourishing ves- 

 sels, or chordae pistillares, the position of which points out the 

 true nature of the ovarium in this class, or the relation it has to 

 the apparently less simple ovarium of other families. I am in- 

 clined to adopt the latter supposition. In order, however, to be 

 understood on this subject, it is necessary to premise that I con- 

 sider the pistillum or female organ of all phaenogamous plants to 

 be formed on the same plan, of which a polyspermous legumen 

 or folliculus whose seeds are disposed in a double series may 

 be taken as the type. A circular series of these pistilla, disposed 

 round an imaginary axis, and whose number corresponds with 



VOL. XII. -\ that 



