504 



POLYGON ACE.E. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



GENERA. 



I. Ebiogone*:.— Benth. 



l'terostegia, Fisch. et M. 

 Mucronea, Benth. 

 Chorizanthe, R- Br. 

 Eriogonum, L. C. Rich. 

 Espinosa, Lagasc. 



II. Polygone.e. — Benth 



Oxyria, Hill. 



bonia, H.Br. 

 Rheum, Linn. 



Rhabarbarum, Tourn. 

 Konigia, L. 

 Polygonum, L. 



Bistorta, Tournef. 



Amblygonon, Meisn. 



Lagunea, Lour. 



Persicaria, Tournef. 



Towara, Adans. 



Antenoron, Rafin. 



Echinocaulon, Meisn. 



Cephaloptiilon, Meisn. 



Didymocephalon, Meis. 



Corymbocephalon, Mn. 



Aconorionon, Meisn. 



Avicularia, Meisn. 



Tiniarla, Meisn. 

 Fagopyrum, Tournef. 

 Mnpeiygonum, Lindl. 



Numbers. Gen. 29. 



Oxygonum, Burch. Polygonella Mx 



Calligonum, L. j Lyoma. Hat 



Polyaonoides, Tournef. | Atraphaxis, L. 

 Callipliysa, Fisch. et Mey 

 Pterococcus, Pall. 



Pallasia, Linn. ffl. 

 Coccoloba, Jaeq. 

 Miihlenbeckia, Meisn. 

 Ceratogonum, Meisn. 

 Emex, Neck 



Vibi.o, Monch. 



Centropodium, Burch 

 Rumex, L. 

 Tragopyrum, Bieb. 

 Gonopyrum, Fisch. 



III.Triplare.e —Meyer. 



Podopterus, H et B. 

 Rupprechtia, Meyer. 

 Triplaris, L. 



Blochmannia, AVeigelt. 



Vclasqiiezia, Bertol. 

 IV. Brunniche.*. — 



Meisn. 

 Brunnichia, Banks. 



Fallopia, Adans. 

 Antigonon. F.iuil. 



Sp. 490. Gonopyram, Fisch., = Polygonella. 



Thysanella, A. Gray, near Polygonum 

 Sarcogonum, Kunze, = Muhlenbcckia. 



Nyctaginacece. 

 Chenopodiacew. 

 Position.— Illecebracea?.— Polygonace^e.— Caryophyllaceffi. 



The nosition here first given to this family in the Silenal alliance is much confirmed by the 

 obse^aCof Mr Mierf in a paper read before the Linnean Society in November 1851, upon a 

 ni™Hrom the Chilian Andes, belonging to the Eriogone*. These remarks are here quoted, as 

 &o«^^^n^^^ottJ&or^ B tn 1 Are of the order, and strengthen my own 

 conclusions Mr Bentham, in a monograph of the Eriogonew (Linn. Trans, xvu. 403), states 

 that he does not agree with Meisner and De Candolle, who inferred the normal number of 

 tomens in Polygonacea3 to be double that of the lobes of the perigomum and that n all 

 insSnces occun-fng with a less number of stamens, this diminution is alone attributable to the 

 -Ction o ? those parts. Mr. Bentham, on the contrary, showed that such relation is not at all 

 manifest and he endeavoured to prove that the normal number of floral parts is always ternary, 

 riic ( lufcJ *of theperSonium being biserial, the 9 stamens in 3 series, and the ovarium having 

 3 styles and 3 stigmata : this arrangement, however, is far from general, for the greater number 

 of g y eneiva preseuTonly 5 floral divisions, with 6, 8, or 9 stamens. Atraphaxis, notwithstanding 

 nkfs a binW arrangement of its parts, viz.-4 lobes in the periantluum m 2 rows with 2 stales 

 and 2 stkmiata These discrepancies may however be reconciled, according to the views oi 

 Mr Mie rs if we pay attention to the following circumstances. There does not seem any 

 apparent Reason, wby botanists should have constantly regarded the floral envelopes m the 

 rolvgonace« asaperigoniumorperianthium, words intended to express a confluence of calyx 

 an&oUa into one common floral covering, but here the parts constituting the: floral envelope 

 ire quite distinct, and bear all the usual characters of calyx and corolla. Weie this once 

 emitted, and were we to conceive the normal arrangement to be ternary, and to suppose the 

 ix stence of an occasional binary combination, by the suppression of some of its parte all the 

 ltfficumes of its variable structure would be easily explained. In the case where the floral 

 envelopes are only 3 (as in Konigia), we might look upon it as an apetalous genus : where they 

 coSof 6 lobesf the 3 outer may be regarded as sepals, and the others as petals ; or when 9 

 the 6 interior lobes as a double row of petals. In like manner, when 5 in number, we 

 mav conceive the 2 outer lobes (which in such case are always more exterior) to be sepals, ana 

 the other 3 to be petals ; when 4 or 8, the same distinction may be made, by dividing them into 

 binary series This hypothesis, though only a modification of Mr. Bentham's, will obviously 

 reduce the number of deviations from the normal rule. ; 



These reasons confirm me in the propriety of associating . the Polygonacero with the 

 CarvoDhvILacesa and Portulacaccm, with which orders they agree m the unsymmetncal mcon- 

 t'ney fS floral parts, in their sepals being often of petaloid texture, in the insertion of 

 Stamps upon a hypogynous ring, quite free from the petals, in their son lewhat ^s ripifcute 

 ovarium, and in their farinaceous albumen enclosing a curved embryo. The Caryophy naceaj 

 •ilso have their petioles somewhat vaginant. . , 



All the Eriogoneiv hitherto known, and the group is very numerous m species accord with 

 Mr Bentham's normal rule, having 6 floral segments in 2 series, 9 stamens and 3 styles, but the 

 riant described by Mr. Miers has a quaternary arrangement, and according to his views 4 sepals, 

 4 pc\aKimbricately disposed in distinct series, and 8 stamens fixed upon the hypogynous ring, 

 ■w ith 4 styles and stigmata. 



New genera of the Eriogonese. (Jmtrn. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad., 2nd Series, vol. i.) 



Eucycla, Nvtt. 

 Nemacaulis, Nutt. 



Oxytheca, Nvtt. 



Tetraraphis, Miers. 

 Stenogonum, Nutt. 



The root of Rumex abyssinicus or Mokmoko is much employed in Abyssinia to prevent the 

 vmciditv of butter which is found to undergo no change, and to acquire no bad flavour when this 

 n Us macer ited in it -Ach. Rich. Dr. WeddaU describes an Ant-tree, belonging to this order 

 Tl TripS ' Bonplandiana is stated by him to I,, instantly the habitation of a fragrant an 

 A vrmica) which lives in the pith, and communicates with the outside by narrow galleries. Tim 

 dSwS swarms in hundreds from the interior when the tree is shaken and inflicts 

 a vcrv severe bite upon the passer by. (A n ,, &., 3rd Ser. , xiii. 263.) He adds that Rupprechtia, 

 which some authors refer to Triplaris, never contains ants. 



