BOTANY. 101 



parietal placentas ; embryo albuminous or cxalbuminous. Leafless, scaly, 

 parasitic plants, baving a fungus-like appearance. Tbey are never green, but 

 assume a brown, yellow, or purple color. They arc composed chiefly of cellu- 

 lar tissue, with a few scalariform or spiral vessels. They are often stemlcss, 

 and sometimes are furnished with a creeping rhizome. In their mode of de- 

 cny they resemble Fungi. Their seeds present a peculiar appearance, resem- 

 bling spores rather than true seeds. The nature of their embryo is undeter- 

 mined, and their place in the natural system is still doubtful. Lindley has 

 placed them in a separate class, intermediate between Thallogens and Endo- 

 gens. They have been divided by him into three distinct orders : 1. Bala- 

 7tophnroce(C, male flowers pedicellate ; stamens, one to three ; filaments and 

 anthers both united ; ovule solitary, pendulous ; fruit, monospermous. 2. 

 Ci/tinacefe, flowers in spikes ; perianth, three- to six-lobed ; anthers sessile 

 on a column, dehiscing by slits ; ovules 00, attached to parietal placentas ; 

 fruit, polyspermous. 3. RcrßesiacecB, flowers sessile, solitary ; perianth, 

 five-lobed, with calli in its throat ; anthers attached to a column, dehiscing 

 by pores ; ovules 00, attached to parietal placentas ; fruit polyspermous. 

 They are natives chiefly of tropical countries, but some extend into tempe- 

 rate climates. They are found in the East Indies, South America, Cape of 

 Good Hope, and the south of Europe. Lindley enumerates twenty-one genera 

 and fifty-three species. Examples : Balanophora, Cynomorium, Cytinus, 

 Rafllesia. 



Species of RafHesia exhibit the largest flowers known, the perianth being 

 sometimes three feet in diameter, and capable of holding six quarts of liquid. 

 They are all parasitic. 



Order 59. Nepenthace.*:, the Pitcher-plant Family. Flowers dioecious. 

 Perianth four-parted, inferior ; aastivation imbricated. Male flowers : stamens 

 united in a solid central column ; anthers about sixteen, forming a spherical 

 head, extrorse, and with longitudinal dehiscence. Female Flowers : ovary 

 free, four-cornered, four-celled ; ovules 00 ; stigma sessile. Fruit a four- 

 celled, four-valved capsule, Avith loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds 00, ascending, 

 very minute, fusiform, with a loose testa ; nucleus less than the seed, suspend- 

 ed by the chalaza ; embryo in the midst of fleshy albumen ; cotyledons plano- 

 convex ; radicle pointing to the hilum. Herbs, or half-shrubby plants, with 

 alternate leaves, slightly sheathing at the base, having a foliaceous petiole, 

 which forms an ascidium at its extremity, and the lamina in the form of a 

 lid. Natives of swampy ground in the East Indies and China. They have 

 no known properties. The pitchers have been found to contain a solution of 

 binoxalate of potash. Spiral vessels abound in all parts of the pitcher plants ; 

 and the woody bundles are without concentric zones. Lindley gives one genus, 

 and six species. Example : Nepenthes. 



Order 60. Aristolochiace.e, the Birthwort Family. Perianth adherent, 

 tubular, three-cleft, regular, or sometimes very irregular ; aestivation valvate 

 or induplicate. Stamens six to twelve, epigynous, distinct or gynandrous. 

 Ovary inferior, three- to six-celled ; ovules 00, anatropal, horizontal ; style 

 simple, short ; stigmas radiating, three to six. Fruit dry or succulent, three- 

 to six-celled. Seeds numerous ; embryo very minute, at the base of fleshy 



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