260 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



one might fancy them the pores of a Conifer. Tlie woody fibres of 

 the roots present the same appearance. These roots are tuberculate 

 cylinders, like the subterranean swellings of a BnhVin. Their thick- 

 ness results from the great development of the cortical parenchyma. 

 The cells are all similar, and gorged with starch-granules, which we 

 also find in the pith and the numerous medullary rays that connect it 

 with the cells of the herbaceous layer. 



The chief characters of this order once known, we can inquire into 

 its affinities, which are numerous. In the first place, it is more or 

 less closely allied to the whole of Endlichkk's class Folijcarpiccp, 

 especially to Mag noli ace a and Mompermaceoi ; and generally to those 

 orders which possess ternary flowers. As we have seen, the sole diffe- 

 rence between the true Magnoliaceoe and Anonacea is in the seed pro- 

 vided with an arillary thickening, generalized in the former, localized 

 or absent in the latter ;' while the albumen is not truly ruminate 

 in Magnoliacea^ as it is in Anotiaccce. This character is no longer 

 sufficient to completely differentiate these from Mcnispermacca, for 

 the albumen is deeply partitioned in plants of the latter order.^ But 

 the habit, the size of the flower, the inflorescence, the structure of 

 the stamens and fruit supply, as Bentiiam & Hooker' have shown, 

 sufficient means to separate the two groups in practice. The Lardi- 

 zabalacea, now placed near Berhcridacea, have by this very fact 

 closer relations with Papavcracea than with Anonacea. BUk'niacete 

 have not the trimerous or dimerous flowers of the Anotiaccce. The 

 Nutmeg order has always been considered nearly allied to Aiionacca 

 on account of the aril and ruminated albumen. These resemblances 

 must now-a-days be considered as only very specious. The apetalous 

 flowers, the mode of diclinism, the monadelphous stamens, are the 

 chief reasons for removing the much-reduced type of the J/yr/>- 

 ticacf'ci; from Aiionaccd'. Together with Maf/iioliaccd' the order most 



' Tlic nril tlisniipcurii in Schizamlrea, which ' Espeeiully in Burasaia, wliono albtnnen i« 



liuve ul»o been coinjmnd with Anomicefp on lie- deeply rumiimtcd, iind wliiih wo wore tiio tirnt 



count of the type of the (lower, iitid the hiibit of to refer to Mrnispennncfa {Adanionin, ii. 310). 



Sagercra, StiUrhucarpun, kx'. The known Schi- * " Bfnr limitaiitur hahitii, injlomicentia, 



zandrrre huve nil unihexuiil tlowcrn. Jtoribtm parvia, stiiminif/iis, rf pnraertim irmine 



' Spacu (Suit. (I Riiffon, vii. 49.3) does not (etinm in illis quibus iilbumrn rertum et rumi- 



•dmit thitf ditrerentiiil fhiiriioter in all its rigour, mitum) circa enduvarpiiim inli-usum peliaio- 



for, nay* he, the periKpcnn "in imfracluuue or curvalow Muleato, H einbi'ifotui elvni^atu." {Gem., 



riiuoiie in *cvoral Mniinnhcu" 80.) 



