NATURAL ORDERS. 113 



bcr. The insertion of stamina, in this family, is ambi- 

 guous ; but as in a species of Cnestis from Congo, tlicy 

 originate from, or at least firmly cohere with, the pediccUus 

 of the ovaria, they may be considered perhaps in all the [«2 

 genera rather as hypogynous than perigynous. The most 

 important distinguishing characters of Connaracea3 con- 

 sist in the insertion of the t\YO collateral ovula of each of 

 its pistilla being near the base ; while the radicle of the 

 embryo is situated at the upper or opposite extremity of 

 the seed, w^hich is always solitary. In Connarus there is 

 but one ovarium, and the seed (figured by Gsertner under 

 the name of Omphalobium) is destitute of albumen. 

 Boiirea or Robergia has always five ovaria, though in 

 general one only comes to maturity. Its seed, like that of 

 Connarus, is Avithout albumen, and the aestivation of the 

 calyx is imbricate. 



Of C/iesfis there are several new species in Pi'ofessor 

 Smith's herbarium. This genus has also five ovaria, all of 

 which frequently ripen ; the albumen forms a considerable 

 part of the mass of the seed ; and the aestivation of the calyx 

 is valvular. The genera of this group, therefore, differ from 

 each other, in having one or more ovaria ; in the existence 

 or absence of albumen ; and in the imbi'icate or valvular 

 aestivation of calyx. Any one of these characters singly is 

 frequently of more than generic importance, though here 

 even when all are taken together, they appear insufficient 

 to separate Cnestis from Connarus. 



In considering the place of the Comiaracese in the 

 system, they appear evidently connected on the one hand 

 with Leguminosae, from which Connarus can only be dis- 

 tinguished by the relation the parts of its embryo have to 

 the umbilicus of the seed. On the other hand, Cnestis 

 seems to me to approach to Averrhoa, which agrees with 

 it in habit, and in many respects in the structure of its 

 flower and seed ; differing from it, however, in its five 

 ovaria being united, in the greater number of ovula in each 

 cell, in the very different texture of its fruit, and in some 

 degree in the situation of the umbilicus of the seed. 



But Avcrrlioa agrees with Oxalis in every im])ort;mt 



' 8 



