1^1 srec:e'' of i-esembryantheraum, vjhich he grouped under 59 different 

 sections. Some o-f these sections -^re so utterly different in 

 aPTNeerpnce from others in their vegetative chrrscters the t meny 

 would not reco(?nise them as helonging to the same genus. Yet not 

 onlv ere the vep-etative chprr-cters of many different groups found 

 to merge into one another through intermediate groups, vhen a 

 sufficient number of species are studied, but the floral chp-racters 

 are very similar or ■nractically it^enticnl in utterly dissimilsr 

 p-roups, so that it has hitherto been found imprDCticeble to sepa- 

 rate the croups genericall^'- by any absolute characters. 



This WPS evidently the experience of Hgv/orth, v/ho v/as the 

 first to riroperly nonop-raph this genus, for on p. 79-80 of the v;ork 

 above mentioned he v/rites, concerning the groups he has character- 

 ised, as :f*ono^'-s5 — "It is to be believed thet the above numerous 

 and natural croups comprise amongst them several true and m tural 

 genera. Nevertheless their actual limits and essential character- 

 istics (excent in M. glabrum hereunder detached) lie veiled in 

 difficulties which (thus far, at least) escape development and 

 defy research; thej?- w^ll not be fettered. And yet the author once 

 had vainly hoped that the -'inima. , from the tubular corolla of some 

 of them; the tinguif ormia , from their quadrifid calcyces end mul- 

 tilocular cersules; the Articulate, from their hard coloured in- 

 ternal rietaloid fimbri"ilae (and their small number of abbreviated 

 true filaments), keerinf? open continually their lovely flowers; 

 the I-ep-acerhala and the Perfoliate, etc., etc., mig'.t each have 

 constituted a distinct genus (and they r-robably are such), -t^ut 

 he has hitherto been so effectively foiled by such insensible 

 shades and intermediate gradations of character amongst species 

 even O"*' the same section (the ^■•inima not excepted) that he has 

 not yet been able to reconcile their discrepancies." 



?'or many years past I have cultivated and studied the groups 

 to which Havrorth peve the sectional name of ^'^-inima , now knov;n as 

 the sectional name of I^nima, nov known as the -Sphaeroid group, 

 and also others allied to that groun, very many of them quite un- 

 known to Hp.vorth. In the course of that study I have noted char- 

 acters associated v/ith their odd fmpearance not shared by other 

 p-rours. So that by takin-r their habit, reculiar mode of growth, 

 floral characters, and certain vegetative peculiarities into con- 

 sideration, v/e nov; have sufficient distinctive characters to sepa- 

 rate them genericall3/' from I-Iesem-bryanthemum., as I here propose to 

 do. 



But before dealing v-;ith them s^/stema tica lly it may be of in- 

 tere^^t i-^ I p-ive particulars concerning this genus as a whole that 

 are not knovl'n to the average plant-lover. Some of the details to 

 be m.entionedj^ however, v;ere published last yefr in the Journal of 

 the Linnean -^ocietT''. 



StartinP' v;ork with the seed-vessel, v;e find that i'iesembrj'"anthe- 

 mum has cansules of more complicated structure than any other genus, 

 some of them beine- of such a remarkable character that at first 

 si'^ht they vrould seem to be specia''ly designed to prevent the seed 

 from escaping. The structure of the capsules, disrersal of the 

 seeds, and the development o^ the seedlings o-^ this perfectly unioue 

 p-enus form, a most interesting study, so that it is surprisinr-' that 

 no one appears to have Paid any particular attention to the pecu- 

 liarities o'' structure of the censules of ^'^esembryanthemuiti end the 

 mode of its seed-disrersal. In descriptions of the specie.-, the 

 car>suie is practically ignored, the only detail mentioned being the 

 number o"^ its valves. Yet from the large number of capsules I have 



