Mr. J. Miers on the Structure of the Seed in the Clusiaccaj. 367 



The diapyle, in this and many other families, forms a distinct aper- 

 ture filled with soft fungous matter ; in other cases it is less dis- 

 cernible, being closed by the osseous deposits of the testa, and is 

 only recognizable as the point where the extremity of the raphe 

 becomes lost in its substance. The existence of the diapyle in con- 

 nexion with the raphe and chalaza of the inner integument consti- 

 tutes an important feature in this inquiry. The nii)ple- shaped pro- 

 tuberance in the summit of the nucleus, hitherto taken to be the 

 radicle, appears beyond doubt (as first shown by Kichard) to be 

 the two cotyledons of the embryo, which though small and short, 

 are nevertheless quite distinct ; and their relative position is indicated 

 by the cleft being placed right and left of the axis, or with their 

 commissure pointing to the raphe : the main body of the nucleus, 

 instead of being confluent cotyledons, as hitherto supj)osed, must be 

 a gigantic radicle, in the axis of which is imbedded the caulicle of 

 the embryo (or rather what, for reasons given in the paper, Mr. Miers 

 distinguishes as the neorhiza), shown in the opake central line 

 before mentioned, terminated at its base by the shining speck seen 

 in the base, and at its apex by the plumule, which is seen protruding 

 as a minute point into the space at the bottom of the cotyledonary cleft. 

 The minute external speck seen near the base is considered by the 

 author to be the germinating point of the neorhizu ; it is always more 

 or less prominent, of a green colour in the living state, and does not 

 correspond exactly with the micropyle of the testa, but is always 

 somewhat lateral in respect to it, and nearer the basal origin of the 

 raphe. 



The above analysis affords a good example of the general structure 

 of the seed in the tribe Clusiece, where a number of seeds are formed 

 in each cell of the ovary, and where they are attached in a hori- 

 zontal position by their base to the axile placentary column ; but in 

 the other tribes (^Tovomitece and Garciniec^^, where only one seed 

 is formed in each cell, and where this is fixed to the axile column in 

 a vertical position by its ventral face, a somewhat different structure 

 exists ; and were it not for the explanation afforded by the former 

 case, the structure of the embrj'O in the two latter instances would 

 not be so easily understood. In the Ch/sieee, the raphe enclosed 

 within a fleshy arillus is seen to extend from the base to the apex of 

 the seed, and is free from the testa ; in the other tribes the testa is 

 thinner, and enveloped in a thicker fleshy, or more pulpy arillus, has 

 a large hilum upon its ventral face, the raphe being short, less dis- 

 cernible, imbedded and lost amidst the numerous branching nervures 

 conspicuously extending over its surface. The author gives as an 

 example of this development, the analysis of the seed of Lamprophyl- 

 lum latum, which he examined during his residence in Brazil : this 

 forms the type of a new genus distinct from Garcinia, comprising 

 numerous South American species, among them the Calophyllum 

 Calaba of Linnaeus, and others heretofore associated with Garcinia 

 and Calophyllum. Here the fruit is a small drupe containing gene- 

 rally two, or by abortion a single seed, about the size of a hazel-nut, 

 which is enveloped in mucilaginous pulp: the testa is thin and 



