506 



NYCTAGINACE^. 



[HyPOGVNOUS ExOfiF.NS. 



r AfiSt r Vi 



Order CXCII. NYCTAGINACE^ — Nyctagos. 



Nyctagines, Juss. Gen. 90. (1789) ; R. Brown Prodr. 421 (1810) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 109; Endl. Gen. civ.; 



Meisner, p. 318. 



ViAGmvs.-Chenopodal Exogens, with a tubular often coloured calyx, whkh separates 

 from its base, the latter becoming a hard spurious pericarp. 

 Annuals or perennials, often with fleshy roots, or shrubs or trees, usually artieulated 



at the tumid nodes. [The vascular system double; the central consisting of bundles 



scattered among the pith, the circumferential 



of bundles not adhering to each other.— linger.] 



Leaves opposite, and almost always unequal ; 



sometimes alternate. Flowers axillary or ter- 

 minal, clustered or solitary, sometimes imperfect, 



having an involucre which is either common or 



proper, in one piece or in several pieces, some- 

 times minute, but more generally very large, 



and sometimes gaily coloured. Calyx tubular, 



somewhat coloured, contracted in the middle ; 



its limb entire or toothed, plaited in activation, 



becoming indurated at the base, and losing the 



limb which is deciduous. Stamens definite, 



hypogynous, sometimes on one side ; anthers 



2-celled. Ovary superior, with a single erect 



ovule, whose foramen is inferior ; style 1, ter- 

 minal or somewhat lateral ; stigma 1 . Fruit a 



thin utricle, inclosed within the enlarged per- 

 sistent base of the calyx. Seed without its 

 proper integuments, its testa being coherent 

 with the utricle ; embryo with foliaceous cotyle- 

 dons, wrapping round floury albumen ; radicle 

 inferior ; plumule inconspicuous. 



Here we have a race of plants, of which the 

 common Marvel of Peru is the type, whose 

 affinity is clearly with the Chenopods and 

 Amaranths, from which it is distinguished by the 

 curious property of 

 converting the base of 

 its thin membranous 

 tubular calyx into a 

 tough or bony shell 

 which acts as a peri- 

 carp to the seed, whose 

 real pericarp is but a 

 membrane. More- 

 over, the tubular ca- 

 lyx, the limb of which 

 is plaited in aestiva- 

 tion, together with 

 the curved embryo 

 and farinaceous al- 

 bumen, at all times 

 distinguish Nyctagos ; 

 add to which, the ar- 

 ticulations of the stem 

 are often tumid, as in 

 Cranesbills. Schlei- 

 den states ( Wiegman's 

 Arch. 1839), that the 

 wood figured at t. 42, 



Fig. CCCXLV 



Fig. CCCXLVI. 



Fi ff CCCX.LV —1 Abronia meUifera ; 2. a flower separate ; 3. its stamens and pistil • 4. the pistil 

 sej&te ■ 5 the frnft • 6 seed magnified ; 7. a cross section of it ; 8. the lower portion of the flower of 

 Mirabilis Jalapa ; 9. its fruit ; 10. a perpendicular section of it. 



Fig. CCCXLVI.-Pisonia grandis. 1. a flower; 2. a pistil ; 3. a cluster of fruits. 



