\ OLALHJ.] PASS1FLOR \< ! 



a for i" tain are nothing but inm r divisions . ■: the caty x, usually in u ■ 

 and wanting in sevt ral species ;" and, then fore, in the judgment ol thai 

 Botanist, the Order i- apetaloua De < andolle adopts the w of thi i 



the floral envelopes as Jussieu ; but he nevertheless considers the Ordei j 

 a conclusion which I confess myself unable to undi ratand, upon the supi i die 



inner series of floral envelopes being calyx. Other Botanists, and I think with i 

 consider the outei oi the floral envelopes as the calyx, and the ini 



corolla, for two principal reasons. In the first place, they have tin 

 and appearance of calyx and corolla, the outer being green, and the inner i 

 and, in the Becond place, there is no i Bsential diffen nee |., tw< i n th( 

 except the one being the outer, and the other the inner of the li"i-.i! envelopes. And if 

 the real nature ot these parts is to I"- determined by analogy, an opinion in whi< i 



lowever, concur, the gn al affinity, as 1 think, of the Order with Violetworts would 

 confirm the idea of it- being polypetalous rather than apetaloua The nature of the 

 filamentous appendages, or coronet, or rays as they are called, which proceed from the 

 orifice of the tube, and of the membranous or fleshy, entire or lobed, flat 

 annular processes which Lie between the petals and tin- stamens, is unilii^imus. Jam 

 disposed to refer them to a peculiar form of petals, rather than to t i i • - stamens, for the 

 reasons which 1 have assigned in the // '. Trant. vol. 6, p. 309, for understanding the 

 normal metamorphosis ot the parts of fructification to be centripetal. There can, at 

 le tst, be no doubt of their being of an intermediate nature '" tween petals and stami ns. 

 With regard to the affinity of Passionworts, Jussieu, swayed by the opinion he enter- 

 tained "i tin ir being apetalous, and l>>- < andolle, who partly agreed and partly disag 

 with Jussieu in hi- view of their structure, both assigned the Order a place near 

 Cucurbits,and there can be doubt that Cucurbits art- really little more than Passionworts 

 with separate si xes and inferior fruit : but when we consider the Btipitate fruit, 

 occasionally valvular, the parietal placentas, the sometimes irregular flowers, the 

 stipul&te leaves, and the climbing habit of these plants, it is difficult not to admit their 

 r affinity with Capparids or Violetworts, the dilated disk of the former of which 

 is probably analogous ti> the innermost of the annular processes of Passiflora. That 



the fleshy covering of the seeds in this Order is a real aril, is clear li i the seeds of a 



capsular species nearly related to P. capsularis, a drawing of which, by Ferdinand 

 Bauer, exists in the Library of the Horticultural Society . La this plant the ap \ of the 

 sculptured testa is uncovered by the aril. Smeathmannia forms ;t connecting link 

 between Passionworts and Samyds. 



Crownworts (Malesherbiacea i are perhaps not verj distinct; their differences, such 

 as they are, are noticed in the proper place. Passionflowers are the pride of South 

 America and the West Indies, where the woods are filled with their species, which 

 climb about from tree to tree, bearing at one time flowers of the most striking b< amy, 

 ami of so singular an appearance, that the zealous Catholics who discovered them, 

 adapted Christian traditions to those Inhabitants of the South American wilden 

 and at other times fruit, tempting to the eye and refreshing to the palate. i or two 

 extend northwards into North America. Several are found in Africa and the 

 neighbouring islands ; and a few in the East Indii -.. 



As far as we have any knowledge of the uses of these plants they appear, notwith- 

 standing their eatable fruit, to possess active and rather dangerous qualitii 

 qmulnmi;iilaris, whose fruit is tile great Granadilla sometimes Been in our hot-ho 

 has an emetic root (Martins), and Is powerfully narcotic, on which account it 

 Mr. Burnett, on the authority ofa French writer, to be cultivate. 1 in several Fn nch - 

 incuts fop the sake of it- root, it is said to owe it- activity I 

 railed Passiflorine. 1'. Contrayerva i- said to he alexipharmic and 

 According to Browne, a tincture of the flowers ol 1' rubra, formed by ini 

 in wine or Bpirits, i- used in the leeward parts of .Jamaica, under thi 

 Dutchman's Laudanum, a- a safe narcotic. P. foatida, and some allied 

 esteemed a- rsmmi nagogues, and are thought to he s, rviceable in hysU ria : th 

 ot the flow* rs is also taken as a pectoral medicine in the \\ 

 used in Brazil in poultices, against erysipelas and intlamm.i. 



The hitter and astringent leaves of P. laurifolia have some i Iniin- 



hcs, P. pallida, mallformis, and incarnata are employed ii 

 fevers. Murucuja oceliata, a West Indian climber, is said pho- 



and antihysteric. Among the species whose fruit i- 

 are Passiflora fihunentosa, pallida, lutea, coccinea, ma 

 incarnata, and serrata, Tai sonia mollisima, tri] 

 shrub called Paropsia edulis. 



