VALERIANE.E 



83 



petioles ridged or subcarinate beneath, rather acutely channelled 

 above, dilated towards the base and subperfoliate. 



First pair broadly ovate, obtuse, crenate. 



Second pair ovate or oval, dentate. 



Third, fourth, and fifth pairs broadly ovate, obtuse, more or less 

 deeply, irregularly, obtusely, and mucronately dentate. 



Valerianella coronata, DC. (fig. 446). 



The radicle in germination usually bursts through the side of the 

 fruit, and then pierces the limb of the calyx, 

 thus fixing the fruit in the soil, as happens 

 also in Scabiosa. 



When free and above soil the cotyledons are 

 shortly oblong, obtuse, entire, sessile and gla- 

 brous. One embryo only out of twenty-eight 

 made its exit at the apex of the fruit, and from 

 "the centre of the calyx-limb. The radicle in 

 this case pierced the calyx from its inner 

 face outwards, and not from the outer face 

 inwards, as is the usual method. 



The fact of the radicle bursting through 

 the side of the fruit is accounted for by two 

 of the three cells of the ovary being small 

 and empty, the third containing a seed is 

 accordingly excentric, and therefore in germi- 

 nation its radicle naturally pushes through one 

 side of the fruit. 



Valerianella Auricula, DC. 



FIG. US. Valerianella 



When the fruits have been moderately well coronata, x 4. 

 covered with soil the embryo in most cases gets 

 clear out of the fruit simply by the elongation of the hypocotyl. 



The cotyledons are shortly oblong, obtuse, minutely emarginate, 

 otherwise entire, sessile, convex above, concave beneath, glabrous, 

 light green. 



