NATURAL ORDERS. 121 



the tube of tlic pcriautliinin, thongli existing in various 

 degrees in all the genera above enumerated, is probably a 

 character of only secondary ini])ortance in llonialinoc. 

 Tor an unpublished genus found by Connnerson in Mada- 

 gascar, Avhich in every other respect agrees uith this 

 family, has ovarium superum. This genus at the same 

 time seems to establish a considerable altinity between 

 Homahnse and certain genera, either absolutely belonging 

 io Fassiforea, e?>\)QQ\v\\y Paropsia of AI. du Petit Thouars,^ 

 or nearly related to them as Ertjllirospermum, well de- [tso 

 scribed and figured by the same excellent botanist.^ 



The increased uumber of stamina in Homalium, and 

 particularly in the genus from Congo, instead of presenting 

 an objection to this affinity, appears to me to confirm it. 

 It may be observed also that there are two genera referable 

 to Passiflorese, though they will form a separate section of 

 the order, which have a much greater, and even an inde- 

 finite, number of perfect stamina, namely, Smeathmania, 

 an unpublished genus of equinoctial Africa, agreeing in 

 habit, in perianthium, and in fruit, with Paropsia ; and 

 Hyania of Vahl,^ which appears to me to belong to the 

 same family. 



In Passifloreae the stamina, when their number is defi- 

 nite, which is the case in all the genera hitherto considered 

 as belonging to them, are opposite to the outer series of 

 the perianthium ; a character which, though of general im- 

 portance, and here of practical utility in distinguishing 

 them from Homalinse, is not expressed in any of the nu- 

 merous figures or descriptions that have been published of 

 the plants of this order. 



Passifloreae and Cucurbitaceae, though now admitted as 

 distinct famihes, are still placed together by ^I. de Jussieu ; 

 and he considers the floral envelope in both orders as a 

 perianthium or calyx, whose segments are disposed in a 

 double series.* 



These views of affinity and structure are in some degree 

 confirmed by llomalnue, in which both ovarium inferuni 



' Ilht. des Vi'f/ef. dest hies de V Afriquc, 59. ''■Op. oil at. 05. 



3 Eclog. 1,;?. 51, /. 9. •» Anual. du Mus. d'lJi.sL Xat. (), p. 102. 



