368 Linnaan Society : — 



brittle, marked by numerous nervures branching from a large ventral 

 hilura, and it contains a solid fleshy nucleus, exhibiting in the apex 

 a very minute prominent nipple in a small hollow a little below the 

 summit of the ventral face : near the base, somewhat on the dorsal 

 side, is seen a green shining speck, exactly like that seen in the seed 

 of the Clusiea; ; the body of the nucleus is solid, of a pale sulphur 

 colour, filled with numerous ducts or cells that exude a viscous juice 

 when cut : a slender caulicular process, like that described in the 

 Clusiece, is seen somewhat oblique with the axis, one of its extre- 

 mities terminating in the nipj)le, the other in the basal speck just 

 described, the latter being without doubt the germinating point of 

 the root, the minute apical nipple being the plumule, the main body 

 of the nucleus forming a gigantic radicle, and the cotyledons at first 

 sight appearing to be wanting ; but on examining the minute nipple- 

 shaped process under a strong lens, this is observed to be formed of four 

 diminutive imbricated scales, surrounding a central prominent point, 

 which is concealed by the two inner and larger scales; the two outer 

 decussating leaflets, thus separated from each other, are smaller, 

 shorter, and placed right arid left of the ventral face, as in the coty- 

 ledons of the Clusiece; from this circumstance, and from their com- 

 missure being directed to the ventral face, the author infers from 

 analogy, that these outer scales are the true cotyledons of the em- 

 brj'o, notwithstanding their minuteness. Generally, in exogenous 

 plants, the want of cotyledons indicates the future absence of leaves 

 in the plants produced from the growth of such seeds. In the 

 ClusiacecB, however, wliere the floral structure is of the highest order 

 of development, belonging frequently to the largest trees of tropical 

 forests, with copious foliage, large fleshy leaves, and rich in muci- 

 laginous juices, the absence of cotyledons, or their reduction to 

 microscopical proportions, oflTers an anomaly suggestive of many 

 considerations on the nature of vegetable reproduction. 



This structure was found to exist in every instance in the seeds 

 of the Garcinietc and Tovomiiete examined by the author ; and he 

 quotes the descriptions of Gsertner, Plumier, Graham, Roxburgh, 

 and Wight, in proof of the same general conformation. All existing 

 evidence, therefore, tends to prove the constant development in the 

 axis of the solid nucleus of the seeds in all Guttiferous plants, of that 

 peculiar process which the author considers to be the neorhiza ; for 

 our decision upon this point will determine in a positive manner, 

 the nature of the other parts of the seeds to which such various 

 conclusions have been assigned by previous botanists. This deter- 

 mination he considers to be proved by the drawings of Dr. Roxburgh 

 and the evidence of Dr. Wight, where the seeds of Xanthochymus are 

 figured in a state of germination : in a longitudinal section of the 

 seed in this state, as shown by these accurate observers, the same 

 linear process in the axis of the nucleus is depicted as that above 

 described ; the basal speck is there seen throwing out a long root, 

 while the apical nipple-shaped process has simultaneously become 

 prolonged, carrying up with it the leaflets of the growing plumule ; 

 and from the lower part of the neck thus protruded, and beneath 



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