588 PLANTS JAVANICiE RARIORES. 



no] In describing the genus Aikinia (Epit/iema of Dr. 

 Blume) I regarded Cyrtandracea, or Cyrta?idre<$, for the 

 reasons now assigned, as a tribe merely of Gesneriacece, 

 mi distinguishable from that portion of the order with 

 hypogenous corolla, or Besleriea, by characters either of 

 little importance or which required confirmation. For 

 although, in addition to the characters referred to, Cyr- 

 tandrece differ very remarkably in geographical distribution 

 from the rest of the family, yet this difference is not 

 entirely without exception, as I have already noticed in my 

 account of Loxotis. 



But whether these groups be considered as distinct 

 families, or as tribes only, it will probably be admitted 

 that in a natural classification Cyrtandrete must stand next 

 to Besleriece ; while on the other hand they appear to be 

 very nearly related to Bignoniacece, with which they are 

 connected through Incarvillea, particularly with that sec- 

 tion of it which in Dr. Royle's Illustrations I have de- 

 scribed as a sub-genus, and named Amphicome. This sub- 



thetical expression of the facts was not applicable even to all the families he 

 lias cited in support of it. And I concluded that as a general rule the point 

 most to be depended on in proving the importance of albumen in systematic 

 botany was its relative quantity, especially when accompanied with a low 

 degree of development of embryo ; for where the albumen forms the great mass 

 of the seed in any known portion of a natural family, it may in most cases, 

 though not always, be safely inferred, not only to be present, but to exist in 

 like proportion in the whole of that family. This rule, however, I regarded as 

 merely empirical, founded on extensive experience, but not necessarily con- 

 nected either with uniformity or even apparent importance of function ; for 

 while in some families in which its proportion to the whole body of the seed 

 is the greatest, it constitutes the early nourishment of the embryo, in others, 

 where it exists in equal quantity, it is either not at all or but slightly acted 

 upon in germination. I stated also that there were cases in which this 

 character was of reduced importance, existing only in certain tribes of one and 

 the same great natural family, as in Rubiacece ; nor are there wanting instances 

 in which it is only of generic value. 1 And, lastly, I noticed that in several 

 families, in which the constancy of the character was very general, exceptions 

 occurred, dependent on the apparent necessity for an unusual development and 

 increased energy in the embryo, connected either with the unfavorable circum- 

 stances in which it was destined to vegetate, as in plants growing in or exposed 

 to the action of salt-water; or where great resistance, arising from the 

 structure of the pericarpium, or even from the texture of the proper integu- 

 ments of the seed itself, was to be overcome in germination. 



1 'Linn. Soc. Trans., 5 vol. x. p. 36 [vol. i. p. 23], et ' Prodr. Flor. Nov. 

 IIoll.,' vol. i. passim. 





