THE ANNALS 
AND 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[THIRD SERIES. } 
No. 54. JUNE 1862. 
XLV.—On Ephedra. 
By Joun Miers; F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. 
Berore I publish my observations on the Anacardiacea, I wish 
to offer some remarks on Ephedra, for this reason, that the mode 
in which the ovule is fecundated in the Gnetacee affords a pro- 
bable clue to the solution of an enigma in the former family 
which is otherwise difficult of explanation. My memoranda and 
drawings from living plants of Ephedra were made more than 
thirty-five years ago, at which period I found several species 
growing in Chile, in the Cordillera of the Andes and in the 
neighbourhood of Mendoza, the structure of which excited my 
particular attention; but, being then a mere tyro in botanical 
investigations, it never occurred to me to notice the development 
and growth of its ovary. I have lately repeated my analyses of 
these plants (now in a dried state), guided by a better knowledge 
of their organization ; but, before I detail the results obtained, 
I will first quote the opinions of botanists in regard to the struc- 
ture and affinities of the family, and will then give the reasons 
upon which my own views are founded. 
The family of the Gnetacee, first established by Blume in 
- 1834, until very recently consisted only of the genera Gnetum 
and Ephedra, which are so extremely different in habit that pre- 
vious botanists had no idea of their close proximity. 
Jussieu (in 1789)* arranged Ephedra in Conifere, where, to- 
gether with Casuarina and Taxus, it entered into his first section 
of that family, while Gnetwm was considered to be more allied to 
Urticacee, near Misodendron, Piper, and some others. 
Poiret (in 1808) + looked upon Ephedra as allied to Casuarina 
and Taxus, but seemed to have had no idea of its relation to 
* Genera Plantarum, pp. 411 and 406. + Dict. vii. p. 276. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. ix. 30 
