316 Mr. R. Brown's Remarks on the Structure 



it from Rosacese and append it to Crassulaceae ; and the struc- 

 ture of the seed, as well as of the folliculi or akenia, and 

 even their insertion on the minute central receptacle or axis, 

 may seem to confirm the correctness of this approximation. 



Cephalotus, however, still appears to me sufficiently remote 

 from every natural order at present established, to entitle it 

 (like Philydrum * and Brunoniaf), now that its structure is 

 completely known, to rank as a distinct family which may be 

 called CEPHALOTEiE, and which may be placed between Cras- 

 sulaceae and Francoaceae; differing from both in being apeta- 

 lous, in the valvate aestivation of the periaiuhium, and in many 

 characters of inferior importance : from Crassulaceae also in 

 its minute embryo and more copious albumen; and from 

 Francoaceaj in the absence of barren stamina and in the pis- 

 tilla being monospermous and apparently distinct. 



The most striking peculiarity of Cephalotus consists in the 

 conversion of a portion of its radical leaves into Ascidia or 

 pitchers. But as ascidia in all cases are manifestly formed 

 from or belong to leaves, and as the various parts of the 

 flower in Phaenogamous plants are now generally regarded as 

 modifications of the same organs, the question is naturally 

 suggested, how far the form and arrangement of the parts of 

 fructification agree in those plants whose leaves are capable of 

 producing ascidia or pitchers. The four principal, and in- 

 deed the only genera in which pitchers occur, are Nepenthes, 

 Cephalotus, Sarracenia, and Dischidia, and the few other 

 somewhat analogous cases, consisting of the conversion of 

 bracteae or floral leaves into open cucuUi, are found in Marc- 

 gravia and two other genera of the same natural family. 



The only thing common to all these plants is, that they are 

 Dicotyledonous. 



It may also be remarked, that in those genera in which the 

 Ascidia have an operculum, namely Nepenthes, Cephalotus, 

 and Sarracenia, they exist in every known species of each ge- 

 nus, and the structure of these genera is so peculiar that they 

 form three distinct natural families ; while in Dischidia, whose 

 pitchers are formed without opercula, these organs are neither 

 found in every species of the genus, nor in any other genus of 

 the extensive natural order to which it belongs. 



The striking resemblance in most points of the Ascidia ot 

 Cephalotus to those of Nepenthes, leads to a comparison in 

 the first place of these two genera. But although both are 

 apetalous, and in the parts of the flower deviate from the qui- 

 nary or prevailing number in Dicotyledones, yet they differ 



* Flinders'* Voyage, vol. ii. p. 578. 

 t Transact. Linn. Soc. vol. xii. p. 132. 



