PLUMBAGINE^E 173 



like an operculum leaving the cavity open, or the pericarp 

 is circumscissile near the base, while the portion that falls 

 away is more or less divided into five valves. The seed fills 

 the cavity of the ovary to which it conforms, and is suspended 

 by a long funicle to which it is sometimes adnate, and 

 its testa is membranous. The endosperm is copious, or 

 scanty and farinaceous, or altogether wanting. Where it is 

 present the embryo is straight, axile, and almost equals it in 

 length ; but where there is no endosperm the terete or 

 slightly compressed embryo fills the seed. The cotyledons 

 are linear or oblong and equal to or larger than the terete 

 radicle. 



In Plumbago the cotyledons are much wider than the 

 radicle, and the endosperm is generally scanty. The seeds of 

 .ZEgialitis are linear, exalbuminous and conform to the fruit. 

 The cotyledons of Armeria grandiflora are linear-oblong and 

 surrounded by a small quantity of endosperm. The radicle is 

 very short. 



Seedlings. Two moderately distinct types of cotyledons 

 were observed, namely, spathulate and linear ; but the 

 two are connected by intermediate forms. The tendency 

 to elongation is due to the form of the seed, and that 

 again conforms to the narrow and elongated character of the 

 fruit. Both fruit and seeds vary in width in different species, 

 and so do the cotyledons both before and after germin- 

 ation. 



The cotyledons of Statice speciosa (fig. 495) are spathulate, 

 obtuse and entire. The first four leaves are also spathulate, 

 more acute, and much larger, and the ultimate ones hardly 

 differ except in their much greater size. The cotyledons of 

 S. macrophylla v flabellata differ in being obtuse and slightly 

 emarginate. The first two leaves are rotund and cuneate at 

 the base, followed by three others which are obovate. Inter- 

 mediate forms between these and the linear type are fur- 

 nished by Armeria chilensis and Statice Suworowi (fig. 496). 

 The cotyledons of the former are linear-spathulate and 

 wider than the first pair of leaves. Those of the latter are 

 smaller and narrower than the first leaf which is spathulate- 

 linear. The second and third leaves are also spathulate and 



