CARYOPHYLLE^E 213 



others with incumbent cotyledons. S. marginata l agrees very 

 closely with S. marina ; but S. rubra, another British species, 

 has wingless seeds. In Spergula also some species have 

 winged seeds and others not. Drypis spinosa 2 stands in the 

 same relation to the Caryophylleae as Bunias orientalis does 

 to the Cruciferse. The embryo is spirally or circinately coiled, 

 the cotyledons especially, and takes up the greater part of the 

 seed. The radicle is simply hooked, with its tip brought 

 round in contact with the cotyledons, while the small quantity 

 of endosperm present lies in the sinus of the radicle. The 

 seeds are somewhat compressed laterally. 



Cotyledons. There is considerable variation in the shape 

 of the cotyledons after germination ; but those observed may 

 be roughly classed under six leading types or forms. All are 

 entire, and they vary chiefly in size and outline. Some of them 

 are moderately fleshy in character, while the greater number 

 are so opaque that no venation is discernible, or at most a 

 midrib only. Saponaria Vaccaria is exceptional, and it seems 

 that the cotyledons of no two species of this genus are exactly 

 alike. 



Taking Dianthus Caryophyllus (fig. 197) as the first type, it 

 is characterised by broadly oblong cotyledons, rounded at the 

 apex, tapering into the petiole, glabrous, fleshy, pale green, 

 opaque. D. prolifer and D. ciliatus agree in all the main 

 points, but the cotyledons of the former are proportionately 

 shorter, retuse, inclining to ovate, and minutely scabrid at 

 the margin. Their form in all cases bears an evident relation 

 to the shape of the peltate, flattened seed and embryo. The 

 petioles, it may be noted, are short and connate at the base, 

 forming a cup round the plumule, and this character is the 

 prevailing one throughout the Order. 



The next type is represented by Tunica prolifera (fig. 198), 

 which has broad, suborbicular, petiolate, thin but opaque 

 cotyledons, with obscure venation. They doubtless derive 

 their shape from that of the seed, which is generally orbicular 

 or discoid, or occasionally inclined to oblong as in T. pachygona. 

 Saponaria orientalis may be placed here, as it has broadly 

 ovate or suborbicular cotyledons when full grown ; they also 



1 Le Maout and Decaisne, p. 258. 2 Ibid. p. 255. 



