ORCmDEJ^:. (ORCHIJS FAMILY.) 7543 



into a tiihe, and coherent vntJi the A.-Q-cclled ooarij — Peri- 

 ,2:oinum (perianth) of 2-6 lobes, the staminate destitute of tube. 

 Stamens 3-12, anthers with 2 sheaths, and 2-4 cells. Ovary 

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

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

 crowned with the limb of the perigonium, with 1 cell, or 

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

 rarely stellately dehiscent. Seeds indefinite ; albumen ; 

 testa membranous ; embryo usually straight. 



IIAL.OPIIIL.A, Thouars. Halophila. 



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

 ing 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 placenta?, parietal, the ovules usually 

 numerous, anatropous, 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 

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

 nate peduncled, the pistillate sessile. 



H, stipiilacca, Forsk. 71 Blade of twin leaves oblong-ellipticnl 

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

 a usually short petiole, which is sheathed at base by a scarious scale — 

 June — Red Sea along Sinaitic peninsula. 



Order CVI. ORCHIDEJE. (Orchis Family). 



Perennial lierljs with alternate leaves^ generally tuberous 

 roots ^ andferfect^ irregular^ often slioioy floioers, the Q-mer- 

 oils ])erianth adnate to the 1-celled ovary. Placentce 3,^:)aW6- 

 tal; ovules very numerous. Stamens 3, gynandrous, of which 

 one or tvjo are sterile / the lyollen cohering in masses. 

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

 {sepals) and upper two of the inner (petals) forming the 

 lahiu7n 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 lahellum. Before the lip, in the axis 

 of the lower, is the column {gynosternimn), composed of the 

 style or thick fleshy 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 

 glaiuls. Style prolonged into an indistinct, fleshy process 



98 



