INCOMPLETE. 335 



numerous American and East-Indian species. TJie bark and the rind of 

 the fruit are acrid. 



NEPEXTHACEJE are herbs or half-shrubby plants with alternate leaves 

 which, when perfect, have a long stalk terminating in a pitcher with an 

 articulated lid. Morphologically the pitcher is considered to be a dilata- 

 tion of a gland at the top of the midrib of the young leaf. The flowers 

 are dioscious, with a 4-merous perianth ; stamens coherent in a solid 

 column (as in Cytisus} ; anthers about 16, extrorse ; ovary free, 4-angled, 

 4-celled ; seeds very numerous, attached to the sides of the dissepiments. 

 Embryo in fleshy perisperm. The relations of this Order are at present 

 obscure. Most authors connect them with Aristolochiacese. They are 

 natives of the tropical region of Asia, and one is found in Madagascar, 

 another in the Seychelles. They are cultivated in our stoves on account 

 of their curious and often beautiful pitchers. These latter entrap, dis- 

 solve, and digest insects and other animal matter, their glands containing a 

 digestive ferment capable of acting in the presence of an acid. 



GYROCARPEJE are usually stationed in this vicinity, but have been 

 already treated of under Combretacege, ante p. 262. 



THYMELACEvE. THE LACE-BAKK ORDER. 

 Coh. Daphnales, Benth. et Hook. 



Diagnosis. Shrubs or trees with an acrid and very tough (not aromatic) 

 bark, entire leaves, and perfect flowers, with a regular and simple, usually 

 coloured perianth, bearing ordinarily twice as many stamens as its lobes, 

 free from the 1-celled, 1-ovuled ovary; seed suspended; perisperm none or 

 sparing ; radicle superior. -Illustrative Genera : Daphne, L. ; Pimelea, 

 Banks & Sol. ; Layetta, Juss. ; Hernandia, Plum. 



Affinities, &c. Among the Monochlamydeous Orders this may be dis- 

 tinguished from Santalaceae by its free ovary ; from Elaeagnaceae by its 

 perfect or polygamous flowers and pendulous seed ; from Lauracese by the 

 longitudinal dehiscence of the anthers ; from Proteacese by its pendulous 

 seeds and imbricated perianth. The flowers are mostly perfect, but poly- 

 gamous in the tribe Hernandiece. The flower-tube is probably of recep- 

 tacular origin. The liber is developed in numerous separable layers in the 

 bark of these plants. The Order is divided into tribes according to the 

 presence or absence of petaloid scales or glands. Hemandiece are by some 

 constituted as a distinct Order, differing from Thymelads in habit, struc- 

 ture of bark, position of styles, and 2-seriate perianth. 



Distribution. A rather large Order, most abundant at the Cape of 

 Good Hope and in Australia, but found sparingly in all other parts of 

 the world.- 



Qualities and Uses. The bark is usually acrid, and that of Mezereon 

 (Daphne Mczereum) and other plants is used as a local irritant ; taken 

 internally it is an irritant poison. Daphne Laureola, the Spurge Laurel, 

 another native species, has similar qualities as also D. Gnidium and D. 

 pontica, favourite garden shrubs, and other species. The liber of Layetta 

 lintearia (West Indies) is separable into lace-like laminae, whence it is 



