OKCniUE.E. (UKCHIS FAMILY.) 7oo 



uito a tuhe, and coherent unth the l-Q-celled ocary — Peri- 

 o'onium (perianth) of 2-6 lobes, the staminate destitute of tube. 

 Stamens 3-12, anthers with 2 sheaths, and 24 cells. Ovary 

 usually with many-ovules, attached toparietal placentae, ana- 

 tropous or orthotropous. Stigmas 2-6. Fruit submerged, 

 crowned with the limb of the perigonium, with 1 eel), or 

 several (false) cells, berry-like or membranous, indehiscent or 

 rarely stellately dehiscent. Seeds indefinite; albumen 0; 

 testa membranous ; embryo usually straight. 



IIAL.OPHILA, Thouars. Halophila. 



Staminate Jiowers. Perianth simple, 3-leaved. Stamens o, alternat- 

 iug with leaves of perianth. Anthers sessile, extrorse, 4-celled. Pistil- 

 late flowers. Perianth minute, 3-2- (sometimes 4-5-) lobed. Ovary 

 gourd-shaped, with 2-5, usually 3 placentas, parietal, the ovules usually 

 numerous, auatropous, ascending. Stigmas 2-5 (more often 3), inserted 

 between the leaves of the perianth, much longer than they, filiform, 

 grooved at inner face. Fruit membranous. Seeds usually numerous, 

 nearly globular, the testa easily separating. Embryo thick, hollowed 

 at tip, to receive the cotyledon from the sheath-like cavity of which 

 projects the plumule — Marine, submerged, perennial herbs. Leaves 

 approximated in pairs, frond-like, the blade 3-nerved. Flowers 

 slieathed by a 2-leaved spathe, at the end of short branches, the stami- 

 nate peduncled, the pistillate sessile. 



H, §tii>iila€ca, Forsk. 2f Blade of twin leaves oblong-elliptical 

 to elliiDtical-lanceolate, .03 to .05 long, .005 to .008 broad, tapering to 

 a usually short petiole, which is sheathed at base by a scarious >;cale — 

 June — Red Sea along Sinaitic peninsala. 



Order CVI. ORCHIDEJE. (Orchis Family). 



Perennial herhs with alternate leaves^ generally tuberous 

 /vots, and "perfect^ irregular.^ often shoioy Jloicers, the Q-mer- 

 ous 2)(^'i'i(('^M adnate to the 1-celled ovary. Placentce Z, parie- 

 tal; ovules very numerous. Stamens 3, gynandrous^ ofiohich 

 one or tico are sterile / the pollen coheAng in masses. 

 Fertilization hj insects — Perianth in two sets; the outer 3 

 [sepals) and npper two of the inner (petals) forming the 

 lahinin or hood, and the lower (originally upper, but becom- 

 ing lower by a twist in the ovary or its stalk) large, often 

 spurred, forming the laldlnm. IJefore the lip, in the axis 

 of the lower, i? the column {gynostcrniurn), composed of the 

 style or thick iloshy stigma, bearing a central fertile and two 

 lateral sterile stamens (the latter staminoids), or rarely a 

 central sterile, and two lateral fertile ones. A^nthers 2- 

 (rarely 1-4-) celled, each cell containing one or more pollen- 

 masses, often caudiculate {pollinia) adherent to stigmatic 

 glands. Style prolonged into an indistinct, tlesliy process 



98 



