Hypopithys.] MONOTROPEJE. 257 



Order XLIV. MONO'TROPEiE. 



Leafless simple erect brown or red root-parasites or saprophytes. Stem 

 scaly, upper often passing into bracts. Flowers solitary spicate or race- 

 mose. Sepals or bracts 2-6, erect, deciduous. Petals 3-6, rarely connate, 

 erect or spreading, imbricate in bud. Stamens 6-12, hypogynous, fila- 

 ments free or connate below ; anthers various. Ovary 4-6-lobed, 1- or 

 4-6-celled ; style simple, stigma capitate peltate lobed or funnel-shaped ; 

 ovules numerous, minute, naked ; placentas thick, parietal or in the inner 

 angles of the cells. Capsule membranous, 4-6-lobed, 4-6-celled. Seeds 

 minute, testa lax reticulate rarely coriaceous ; embryo minute, in fleshy 

 albumen. — Distrib. N. temp, regions. — Affinities. Close with Ericere. 

 — Properties 0. 



1. HYPOPITHYS, Scop. BlRD's-NEST. 



Flowers racemose, upper 5-6-merous, the rest 4-merous. Petals saccate 

 at the base. Stamens 8-10 ; anther-cells confluent, valves very unequal. 

 Disk of 8 or 10 recurved glands. Ovary 4-5-celled, 8-10-furrowed ; style 

 columnar, stigma discoid ; placentas fleshy, filling the cells. Capsule 

 loculicidally 5-valved. Testa loose, reticulate, produced at both ends. — 

 Distrib. N. temp, regions ; species 3 or 4. — Etym. Cirb and -kItvs, from 

 growing in pine woods. 



H. multiflo'ra, Scop. ; flowers racemose, sepals and petals erose 



obtuse. Monot'ropa Hypopi'thys, L. 



Woods near roots of fir and beech, from Aberdeen and Inverness to Kent and 

 Somerset; Mid. Ireland, very rare; fl. July-Aug. — A glabrous or pubescent 

 saprophyte, feeding on decayed vegetable matter. Stem 6-12 in., stout, 

 fleshy, cream-white. Scales oblong. Raceme drooping till after fertilization, 

 then erect. Flowers § in., many, drooping; pedicels short, erect in fruit; 

 bracts scale-like. Sepals irregularly disposed. Filaments incurved, the 

 alternate longer. Style short. Fruit ovoid or globose. — Distrib. Europe 

 (Arctic) (excl. Turkey), N. Asia, N. America. 



Order XLV. plumbagin e;e. 



Herbs, often maritime, rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate or radical, ex- 

 stipulate. Flowers regular, 2-sexual ; bracts and bracteoles usually 3. 

 Calyx inferior, tubular ; limb 5-cleft, plaited, often scarious and coloured. 

 Petals 5, hypogynous, claws long free or cohering, twisted in bud, or 

 corolla monopetalous imbricate. Stamens 5, opposite the corolla-lobes, 

 epipetalous or hypogynous, filaments filiform ; anther-cells bursting in- 

 wards. Ovary free, 1 -celled ; styles 5, rarely 3-4, distinct or cohering, 

 stigmas capillary or linear ; ovule solitary, anatropous, suspended from a 

 basal funicle. Fruit enclosed in the calyx-tube, membranous, bursting 

 irregularly or 5-valved. Seed pendulous, albumen scanty floury ; embryo 

 straight, cotyledons flat, radicle cylindric superior. — Distrib. All 



