BlGNONI u.i.-. I 



GESNER \i I. i 





cc< \i i\ 



der CCLX. GESNER VC1 



Rich. * ' ./ 

 /int. Reg. Ill" • i. Hanb. i 



Harliut Ni v <■ I 



I jrrtandrac* 

 Prodr.9.258; Ed. pr. ccxii. — Didymocar] 



Diaonosi& /■''•/. '•■/ Exogeru, with parietal 



In-yo with in 



Soft-wooded, Bomewhal fleshy, herbs or shrubs, occasional]) 

 creeping manner of growth, and frequently springing from seal) tubers. 1. 

 rugose, without Btdpules, generally oppo- 

 site op whorled. Flowers Bhowy, in 

 racemes or panicles, rarely solitary, yel- 

 low, scarlet, violet, or white. Calyx half 

 adherent, 5-parted, with a valvate or open 

 aestivation Corolla monopetalous, tubu- 

 lar, more or less irregular, 5-lobed, witli 

 an imbricated Bastivation. Stamens 2, or 

 ■t, didynamous ; anthers often cohering, 

 2-celled, innate, with a thick tumid con- 

 nective ; the rudiment of a fifth stami n 

 is present. Ovary half superior, 1-celled, 

 with 2 fleshy 2-lobed parietal polysper- 

 mous placentae, placed right and left ol 

 the :i\is ; surrounded at its base by elands 

 or a fleshy rmg ; style continuous with 

 the ovary ; Btigma capitate, concave ; 

 ovules 00, anatropal. Fruit capsular or 

 Bucculent, superior, 1-celled, with 2 opposite lateral placenta;, each consist 

 Seeds very numerous, minute; embryo erect, in the axis of fleshy albuu 

 cotyledons much Bhorter than the radicle ; testa thin, with veryclos* I 

 - in. times extended into long hairs, or even flatten* d into a wing. 



These little plants (for they seldom rise above the stature of bush -. 

 mere herbs) have somewhat the appearance ol Figworts, or of diminutn 

 and have been even n ferred to those Orders. They, however, differ fron 

 Alliance in the very small size of their cot) li dons as compared with tin ii 

 and their absolutel) parietal placentation; in addition to which they luti 

 dene) to form an inferior ovary, and thus lead towards the Campanal Alliai 

 part of the series. To Eccremocarpus, a genus ol Bignonia -. I 

 as will be Been by referring to p. 675; but in that plain the « 

 leafy cotyledons point too plainly to Bignoniads to be mista 

 approach Broomrapes in their parietal placentation. 



The Suborder Cyrtandrese, usually regarded as a distinct group, luu 

 to Gesnerworts by Dr. Brown, and with justice, there being 1 

 between them. (See //•-.' Pla U 



able for the long threads that terminate the Beeds of certaiu ■. 

 revolute placentas, and in some cases for their long, sl< ndi r, sil • 

 pass into Bignoniads through Incarvillea. 



The two Sub-orders have a very differ* iphical distril ution 



are common in our gardens, are exclusively inhahitaii!- of til* 



of America. The Qj irtandreae, on the contrary, are -| 1 

 although chiefly confined to the eastern part-. Som* occ ■ 

 and Haberlea ; others grow in the cooler pari 

 Klugia is Mexican, Streptocarpus is from the * 

 warm valleys of the Himalayas, and in the damp 1 

 that they are most abundant, under the forms ol Chirita, * 

 Didymocarps. Fieldia is from N< « Holland, and s* vi ral < ; 

 Islands. 



Pig. C< C( \i.i\ -Hypocyrtn gracilis 

 :;. seed with its embryo expo ed to view. 



1 



