270 OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURAL FAMILY 



angular, and that in Corymbifera and Carduacece, or in all 

 tubular florets, it is spherical or oval. 



All the figures which this author has given of pollen in 

 Cichoraceae represent it as a regular icosahedron, except 

 that of Geropoyon glabrum, which is a dodecahedron. I 

 believe neither' of these forms of pollen has been observed 

 in any other family of plants. 



A fourth remark on Composite I do not offer with abso- 

 lute confidence, as it is opposed to the statement of M. 

 Cassini, on whose general accuracy I have great reliance. 

 It relates to the disposition of the branches of the style or 

 stigmata, which according to M. Cassini are lateral, or 

 right and left with relation to the axis of the common 

 receptacle ; whereas, I consider them as anterior and pos- 

 terior, though in many cases by a slight degree of twisting 

 in the style they acquire what M. Cassini regards as their 

 original position. 



This may seem a point of very little consequence to 

 establish. Independent however of the necessity of minute 

 accuracy in every case, it appears to me to have some con- 

 nexion with my fifth remark, which relates to the infernal 

 89] structure of the Ovarium of Composite. I am not aware 

 of anything having been yet said on this subject further 

 than that it contains a single erect ovulum, inserted at the 

 base of the cavity. In addition to this, I observe in the greater 

 part of Compositae, whose ovarium I have examined, two 

 very slender filiform cords, which, originating from oppo- 

 site points of the base of the ovulum, or of its short foot- 

 stalk, run up, and are more or less connected with, the 

 lateral parietes of the ovarium, until they unite at the top 

 of its cavity, immediately under the style ; between which 

 and the ovulum a connexion is thus formed. In many 

 cases, as in Liatris sjjicata and Tussilayo odorata, these 

 cords are easily separable from the ovarium, and have such 

 a degree of tenacity that they may be extracted from it 

 entire, along with the ovulum. In other cases they more 

 firmly cohere with the sides of the cavity : and in those 

 plants in which I have been unable to see them distinctly, 



