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. 
a 
Mr. J. Miers on the Calyceracez. 183 
consequently been regarded as holding an intermediate position 
between that family and the Dipsacee, with which it also accords 
in its capitate involucrated inflorescence, its monopetalous co- 
rolla, its inferior 1-celled ovary with an adnate calyx, its undi- 
vided style and simple stigma, and its solitary suspended ovule, 
—its fruit being likewise a monospermous achzenium, crowned 
by the persistent teeth of the calyx, and the embryo of its seed 
imbedded in an ample albumen. It differs, however, from the 
Dipsacee in the peculiar venation of the corolla, in having its 
filaments united at the base into a monadelphous rig, and in 
its combined half-syngenesious anthers. 
Mr. B. Clarke * first proposed to separate these families, by 
some distance, in a natural system founded principally on the 
normal position of the carpels and the relation of the raphe to 
the placenta. Under his arrangement, in the monopetalous 
proterocarpous division of Exogens, he places the Calyceracee in 
his Tetragonal alliance with Valerianacee and Dipsacea, while 
ite appear in his Myrtal alliance, the Onagrarial alliance 
being interposed between them. It is needless to say that the 
grounds of arrangement in this system are most feeble, as the 
more important considerations of floral and carpological struc- 
ture, as well as general habit, are completely placed out of view. 
As no other reason is adduced to justify the separation of the 
two families in question, the validity of their close affinity still 
remains unimpeached. 
Prof. Agardh has likewise proposed the separation of the Caly- 
ceracee from the Composite, under a still more singular system 
of arrangement, also founded principally upon the mode of de- 
velopment of the ovules in different plants. He places Compo- 
site at the end of an alliance which embraces Cycadacea, all the 
Conifere, Ephedracee, Proteacea, and Bruniacea, and places 
Calyceracee in another alliance of the most heterogeneous kind, 
comprising Plantaginacee, Primulacee, Dipsaceea, and Gunnera- 
cee, the latter family interposing between Calyceracee and Com- 
posite. The principal reason given for this approximation of 
Gunneracee with Calyceracee is the fact of the single ovule 
being in both cases suspended from the very apex of the cell, 
while in Dipsacee the point of its suspension is somewhat lateral. 
The view of natural affinities expounded in his work+ will not 
stand the test of investigation; when applied to the case under 
consideration, we see that Gunnera, with its monochlamydeous, 
often dicecious flowers, which are spicate or racemose and ebrac- 
teated, its two simple stamens, its divided style with plumose 
stigmata, its drupaceous fruit and very minute embryo in copious 
albumen, offer a combination of characters that place it at a great 
* Ann. Nat. Hist. 2 ser. xi. 454456. + Theoria Syst. Plant. 
