192 



NATUJtAL mSTORY OF PLANTS. 



always sessile or nearly so, more rarely stipitate (fig. 229). They 

 vary greatly in form, bein^,' ovoidal, obovoidal, cylindroidal or club- 

 shaped. The seeds, which contain a ruminated albumen and a 

 small embryo near the apex, are separated from one another by false 

 transverse dissepiments, to which answer circular external 

 contractions, usually but little marked and sometimes 

 quite wanting. The Ucarins are shrubs, often creeping 

 and climbing. Their alternate leaves are usually covered 

 with a more or less abundant down, as are the young 

 branches, peduncles, calyces, receptacles, and fruits.' 

 Tiie liowers are axillary or terminal, often leaf-opposed 

 in the latter case, sometimes solitary, sometimes united 

 into few-flowered cymes. About two-score species are 

 admitted,- of which the number will probably have to 

 be reduced. 



In the flowers of U. sphcnocarpd' (Ceylon), the petals 

 are united for a certain height into a corolla, which 

 falls off" in a single piece. This character, which in 

 certain other groups is considered of capital importance, can have 

 none in the genus Ucnria, for in it we find every intermediate stage 

 between the gamopetalous U. sphenocarpa, the species where the 

 union of the petals is scarcely indicated, and those which are com- 

 pletely polypetalous. 



Even besides Ammina there are other Ucarian of American origin ; 

 viz., the Porcelias* of Peru, which possess all the essential characters 

 of this genus, the sexual organs and perianth being exactly the 

 same. The petals of both corollas are imbricated, especially those 

 of the inner one.* The carpels are indefinite, and occupy the centre 

 of a convex receptacle. Each contains an indefinite number of 



Utaria rvfa. 



Fig. 229. 



Berry. 



' Tlic Imirs of wliicli it consists ore often 

 stellate, iind iiro wliitiuli, t-.iwny, or rust-coloured. 



' Sec J). lUS, notes 1-0. 



=> Hook, k Tuoms., Fl. Ind., i. 99, n. 7. — 

 Thwait., Juium. ri. Zfi/l., (5, n. 3. — Walp., 

 Ann., iv. 4(J. We niiiy miikf ii section of this 

 genus under tlio title of S'/inraria to iiirliido 

 those species in which the corollii thus fulls otf in 

 a single piece ; but wo must rec<ijfnise the fiict 

 that the exact limits between this si-ction and 

 th'Jsc cunUiining quite i>olypelalous species are 



often very nrlifuial ; a jinxjf of the little value 

 of the jreneni Jlexahilus, Ac. 



* Kiiz & Pay., P,odr. Fl. Peruo. et CM., 

 81-, t. 1(); Si/nt., i. lU.— DC. Prudr.,\.SS.— 

 Dun., Mon., 85. — Knui... O***., n. 4717. «.— 

 B. H., Oen., 23, 956, n.4.— II. B.v., Adtiiuomia, 

 viii. 303. 



* 'J'hey grow for a long time, even iifler the 

 expansion of the flower, und their bases beconio 

 gradually contriiclcd, especially in the inner 

 putnls. 



