€8 RAPHIDES IN ONAGRACE/E AND HYDROCHARIDACE:E. 
flower of the principal axis has the common contorted estivation, whilst: all 
others have a quincuncial The subform y: precoz, De. Cand. Prod. would 
therefore be distinguished by all its flowers being contorted as in G, Amarella 
and the typical plants of the whole Order. But all these things must be ob- 
served on exeursions, as in dried specimens misplacements of the lobes of the 
corolla not unfrequently happen, and doubts may arise about the wstivation. 
4 A. GRISEBACH, 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XV. 
Gentiana Germanica, Willd. From specimens kindly forwarded by Mr. H. H. 
Crewe,— Fig. 1. A flower. Fig. 2. The same laid open, to show the germen and its 
stalk. Fig.3. A stamen. Fig. 4. A separate germen. Fig. 5. nearly ripe cap- 
sale. One opening flower, near the top of the Plate, shows the quincuncial estivation. 
ON ONAGRACE/E AND HYDROCHARIDACEA AS ELUCI- 
DATING THE VALUE OF RAPHIDES AS NATURAL 
CHARACTERS. i de 
By Gzonoz GurLIvER, F.R.S. ede 
That such an Order as Onagracee may, in the British Flora, be well 
and truly distinguished from ‘its nearest allies simply by the character 
of raphis-bearing, we have repeatedly proved... But whether this re- 
markable difference is universal remains to be determined ; and; as the 
inquiry is an important and. extensive one, I shall.now open it with 
notes of the few observations which I have yet made as to this point. 
The term. raphides will be here used for the needle-forms Which com: 
monly occur in bundles ; for much perplexing obscurity has arisen fror 
confounding them with spheraphides and. other minute crystals, as 
more fully explained in the ‘Annuals of Natural History’ for September 
last. BXO 
When not otherwise implied, leaves of. the following plants were ex= 
amined, and compared. with corresponding parts of Clarkiay Euchari- 
dium, Godetia, and Fuchsia ; these four genera of Onagrace@ having; 
like all their congeners hitherto examined in this point of view; been 
found to abound. in raphides, Whereas, after the most: careful seareh, 
no raphides were found in any of these following plants :—Philadelphus 
coronarius, Deutzia scabra; Eugenia Ugni, officinal Cloves, Allspice, Brazil 
nuts, and Pomegranate fruit; Haloragis alata, Loudonia, sp.; Loasa arge- 
monoides, L. acanthifolia, Mentzelia oligosperma; and Bartonia: (B. nuda ?) 
