ILLUSTRATIONS. 95 



which are entirely without petals, and have a scarcely per- 

 ceivable calyx, a single stamen, one subulate style, and a sin- 

 gle ovule. The plant has considerable superficial resemblance to 

 the Equisetums or Horsetails, but has no affinity with them. 



In the Red or Common Bryony,* we have a British example 

 of the Cucurbitaceous family, to which the Melon and Cucum- 

 ber belong. It is a scrambling plant, as are most of the family, 

 trailing over the surface of the ground if no support is at hand, 

 or clambering by means of its tendrils over any adjacent 

 herbage. In the southern parts of England, it is common in 

 hedges and thickets. It has a thick tuberous perennial root- 

 stock, from the crown of which the annual stems are produced. 

 These are hairy, branched, very much elongated, and furnished 

 with broadish leaves, divided into five or seven angular lobes, 

 of which the middle one is the longest. The flowers are pro- 

 duced separately by young plants, the staminiferous on one and 

 the pistilliferous on another ; but as they become older, both 

 forms, though still separate, are borne by the same plant. 

 The staminiferous flowers grow several together in long- stalked 

 racemes from the leaf-axils, while the fertile or pistilliferous- 

 ones are on short stalks ; both have a five-toothed calyx, and 

 five petals just united at the base into a single five-lobed co- 

 rolla, which is inserted in the margin of the calyx. The stamens 

 are combined into three sets, of which two are double, com- 

 prising two stamens each, and one single. The pistilliferous 

 flowers are succeeded by small scarlet berries, which are fetid 

 when bruised. In the younger stages of growth, the fruits, 

 in that state called ovaries, have the flowers growing from their 

 apices, the same as may be seen in a young Cucumber. 



In the family of the Umbellifers, or Umbel-bearing plants, 

 we have further illustrations of this epigynous group of Calyci- 



* Bryonia dioica — Plate 12 E. 



