18 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLAIN'S. 



a few alternate leaves with the blade trifoliolate, or even more divided, 

 and often one or several united one- or few-tlowered floral peduncles. 

 hopijrum^ which most authors consider as a distinct genus, should 

 strictly be replaced in the genus HelhhoruH, in which it was formerly 

 included. Its habit (which, however, is very near to that of Coptis),^ 

 with some characters of slight importance offered by the flower, may, 

 it is true, be enough to separate them. We have retained it pro- 

 visionally only,^as a " transition genus between Nu/cIIa and UeUvhorus, 

 ill-defined, and without good natural limits." 

 The analysis of the commonest species will show 

 if this way of regarding it is justified. 



hopijrum ftimarioidcK L.' (fig. 35), has regular 



hermaphrodite flowers. The calyx is formed of 



five coloured sepals, of quincuncial a?stivation, 



^^ ^-^ The corolla is composed of five tubular petals, 



isopyrumfumarioides. of whicli the basc tapcrs iuto a kind of pedicel. 



Fig. 35. while the limb divides into two lips, of which 



Flower. • 



the inner is the shorter, and indented in the 

 centre or emarginate. The stamens, of a fair number, are free and 

 hypogynous. Each consists of a filament somewhat dilated at 

 the tip, and a basifixed anther with two cells dehiscing by lateral 

 clefts, hardly more interior than exterior. The gyna^ceum consists 

 of a large number of carpels, the ovaries of whicli are grooved ver- 

 tically for tlie whole length. On a level with the tapering summit of 

 the ovary, the lips of this groove thicken slightly, and become covered 

 with papilla3 to form a small stigma. In the inner angle of the 

 single cell of the ovary is a parietal placenta, bearing a large 

 number of anatropous ovules in two vertical rows. The fruit is 

 formed of numerous small follicles, and the seeds enclose in their 

 integuments a small embryo surrounded by, and at the apex of, the 

 very abundant fleshy albumen. It is a herbaceous annual, a native 

 of Siberia. It has a tap-root, and the base of the stem gives ofl* 

 numerous alternate leaves, witli the petiole dilated at the base, and 



' Iiopyrum L. Oen., n. 701, — .lUBS., On., 233. CoptiR " Oenua forte melius pro sectionr ls()]ivri 



—DC, I'rodr., i. 18.— Si'acii, Huit. a Biifl'., habendum." 



vii. 326. — Eyui.., Oen., ii. 171)0.— ». H., Oen'., H, ' Adansonia, iv. tfi. 



n. 21.— Walp., Rep., i. .l«, ii. 7tl; Ann., i. •♦51. * Spec, 7H3.— DC. Prodr., i. 4«, n. X—Lep. 



ii. 11. iv. 2n. — \l. \\H., Adatmonia, \\.'2,G,M\. topyrtim. Hkk ill).. Fl. Oerm., 747. — SpaOH, 



' Bentham a llooKEK go HO fiir an to wiy of Suil. li Ruff., vii. 327. 



