MONIMIAGEJE. 323 



whole inflorescence in tlie Fig. Thus these authors wrongly con- 

 sidered the stamens or carpels, which we have described as parts 

 of a single flower, as so many male or female flowers ; and in this 

 respect it has been with Monimiacea as with Euphorbia} If, on the 

 contrary, we look on the different carpels collected on one and the 

 same receptacle as the elements of a single gynjeceum, the Moni- 

 miacece become comparable to the PolycarpiccE ; and it is among these 

 last that we must look for their analogues, especially among those in 

 which the stamens are perigynous on a concave floral receptacle, which 

 forms a common envelope or indusium to a multiple fruit. This is 

 especially the case with the Mosece ;"' which however in the verticillate 

 arrangement of their stamens differ sensibly from the Monimiacem ; 

 while the stamens are frequently inserted in a spiral in the Poll/- 

 earpiece with a convex receptacle, such as MagnoliacecB, Anonaeea, &c. 

 Hence it is, no doubt, that several contemporary writers^ have placed 

 Monimiaeefs near these natural groups ; while the existence of valvate 

 stamens in both Monimiacece and Lauraeece has indicated a relation- 

 ship between the two groups, the reality of which we shall soon try 

 to demonstrate. 



According to what we have just said concerning the spiral arrange- 

 ment of the stamens of the most highly organized MonimiacecB, if 

 there were among the Polycarpicce a genus with a concave receptacle 

 and non-verticillate perigynous stamens, it would serve as a transi- 

 tion between the Monimiacea on the one hand, and the 3[af/noliacea 

 and Anonacece on the other. We find two types that do this : the 

 Eupomatiece' and the Cahjcantliea. Eupomatia, a true Anonad in its 

 ruminated albumen and in its vegetative organs, has the concave 

 receptacle of the Monimiacece, and the fruit organized like that of the 

 Siparmica and Tam.bourissece, the true carpels being imbedded in a 

 common indusium formed by the persistent and thickened floral 

 receptacle ; and though Eupomatia has not the opposite leaves of the 

 Monimiacece, a character formerly held of capital importance, yet 

 it is now known that there are some Tamhourissas with alternate 

 leaves," and in this respect altogether like the two known species of 



> See Adansonia, ix. 116. '' Hook. F. & Thoms., FL Ind., i. 163.— 



2 Ad. Be., Emim., ed. 2, 43.— A. Juss., Diet. B. H., Gen. 15. 



cVOrbigny, xii. 419, 422.— Endl., £hcA(>., 658. ■* See pp. 242, 261.— H. Bn., Adansonia, ix. 



— LiNDL., reg. Kingd., 299, 300, 510.— TuL., 25. 



Mon., 285, 287. ' See p. 305, note 2, and p. 319. 



Y 2 



