On a new Arrangement of Phanerogamous Plants. 11 



but from the appearance of dried fragments they seem to be of a 

 deep red. 



According to the herbarium of my friend Sir "William Hooker, 

 it appears that this species was obser\'ed in Bootan by the late 

 Mr. Griffith. The specimens referred to are branches mthout 

 flowers or fruit. 



Dedicated to the memory of my much-revered friend and 

 botanist, the late Dr. Kendrick of Warrington. 



V. — On, Relative Position ; including a new Arrangement of 

 Phanerogamous Plants. By B. Clarke, F.L.S. &c. 



[With a Plate.] 



Part IV. 



On Dorsal Placentation. 



The instances in which this variation from usual placentation 

 takes place desene particular attention as having a direct bearing 

 on affinities, the structure of the ovary, and the position of the 

 carpel when single ; but this involves a question relating to 

 the structure of the ovary of Nelumbium which requires to be 

 fii-st more particularly noticed. The discovery that in this 

 genus the raphe of the anatropal ovule is tm'ned away from the 

 adherent funiculus, has been the occasion of an extended in- 

 quiry- into the structiire of its remarkable ovary, and repeated 

 examinations in diflPerent stages of its development have led to 

 the conclusion that the carpels always stand wdth the venti^al 

 suture outwards, that is, tm-ned towards the stamens. 



The cause of this singular departure from ordinary structure 

 is however difficult to explain, but seems owing to one of the 

 following circumstances : — 1. Either the real ovarj- is rudi- 

 mentary, consisting only of the disk in which the carpels are 

 immersed, and the carpels themselves belong each to a separate 

 flower (each rudimentary carpel producing from its base one 

 female consisting of a single carpel) ; or, 2. the ovai-y is apo- 

 carpous as generally understood and the carpels are tui'ned out- 

 wards. 



In support of the first hj-pothesis, it may be observed that the 

 disk in which the carpels of Nelumhiitm are immei'sed differs from 

 such structures in other families in being continuous with the 

 stem, in consisting internally of irregular cavities separated by 

 thin walls, and in containing an abundance of spiral vessels. But 

 supposing that this were its structure, it might be expected that 

 as each carpel belonged to a separate flower there would be some 



