278 Mr D. Don on the Characters and Affinities 



Dombey is said to have gathered his plant in Chile, and 

 there are specimens in the herbarium of Ruiz and Pavon, 

 marked from that country ; otherwise I should have been dis- 

 posed to believe that some mistake had been committed with 

 respect to that habitat. The fascicles of leaves, in both species, 

 are opposite, or, more properly speaking, approximate, than 

 alternate, in the native specimens. 



In a former number of this Journal (January 1830), I have 

 proposed to place Viviania (Macraa, Lindl.) next to Mollugo, 

 and Fharnacetim among the Car7/ophijllea ; and having again 

 directed my attention to the subject, I see no reason to alter 

 my opinion. With respect to its monopbyllous calyx, and the 

 embryo being surrounded by albumen, if rightly represented 

 by Dr Hooker, both these characters occur likewise in genera, of 

 whose association with the CaryophylleeE there can be no ques- 

 tion ; for the seeds of Dianthus differ much more from its co- 

 ordinates, than Viviania, the embryo being perfectly straight, 

 and placed in the centre of the albumen ; in which characters it 

 accords with Lineee, and it ought periiaps to be regarded as the 

 connecting link between the two families. With respect to the 

 supposed affinity of Viviania, either to the GeraniaceeB or 

 Oxalidea, I must candidly confess that I have not been able to 

 detect any. 



Cavanilles is sometimes wrong in the habitats he gives, and 

 I am therefore inclined to think that the Mexican station he 

 gives for Viviania marifolia is incorrect, and that the specimen 

 was collected in Chile, as it does not appear to be specifically 

 different from rosea ; the calyx of which is but indifferently re- 

 presented in Dr Hooker's otherwise excellent figure. 



LUZURIAGA, Ruiz et Pavon, non Br. 



Si/st. Linn. HEXANDEIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Ord. Nat. SMILACE^, Br. 



Perianthium duplici ordine 6-phyllum, patens ; foHolis exterioribus ovato- 

 lanceolatis, obtusulis; interioribiis ovatis, dupl6 latioribus. Stamina 6, 

 hypogyna, distincta: filamenla brevissima, dilatata, complanata, sub- 

 membranacea : antherm erect??, longse, lineares, obtusfe, biloculares, basi 

 sagittatEe: loculis parsUelis, longitudinaliter dehiscentibus, basi produc- 

 tis: connectivo superne attenuato. Stylus acute triqueter. Stigma tri- 

 gonum, obtusum, minute papillosum. Bacca globosa, trilocularis : loculis 



