LXXXI. CEPHALOTE^E. 399 



with its segments, aestivation imbricate, marcescent. STAMENS inserted alternately 

 with the petals ; filaments filiform ; anthers introrse, 2-celled, ovoid or oblong, tip 

 emarginate or pointed or glandular, dehiscence longitudinal. OVARY inferior, 

 1-celled, crowned by a thin disk ; placentas 2, rarely 3 or 4, nerviforni, parietal 

 or edging semi-septa ; styles as many as placentas, distinct or more or less coherent ; 

 stigmas short, distinct, obtuse ; ovules usually numerous, pluriseriate, horizontal, 

 shortly funicled, anatropous. BEERY crowned by the calyx and the withered petals, 

 1-celled, pulpy. SEEDS angular; testa gelatinous; endopleura crustaceous, adhering 

 to the albumen. EMBRYO very small, straight, at the base of a horny albumen. 



PKINCIPAL GENUS. 

 * Eibes. 



Ribesiaceai have many analogies -with Cactea (which see). They are near Saxifrages, tribe Escallonieee, 

 in their woody stem, alternate leaves, racemed flowers, polypetalous isostemonous epigynous corolla, 

 inferior generally 2-carpellary ovary, and albuminous embryo ; they are separated by their habit, fleshy 

 fruit, pulpy seeds, and minute embryo. [R. Grossularia is indigenous on the Morocco Atlas. ED.] 



Ribesiawce inhabit the temperate and cold regions of the northern hemisphere, especially North 

 America ; they are rare in South America, and absent from Africa. 



USEFUL SPECIES. Ribes rubrmn (Currant). Berries red or white, containing a sugary mucilage 

 combined with citric and malic acids ; much used for dessert, and in the preparation of a syrup and a jelly. 

 JR. Uva-crispa (Gooseberry). Fruit with a sugary taste, sourish and slightly aromatic, juice ferment- 

 able, and used in England in the preparation of a spirituous liquor [probably Gooseberry wine is here 

 alluded to. ED.]. R. nigrum (Black Currant). Berries containing a resinous aromatic principle, formerly 

 employed medicinally, now forming the base of the popular drink called ' cassis.' 



LXXXI. CEPHALOTE^E, Endlicher. 



Perennial HERBS with short subterranean rhizomes. LEAVES in a rosette at the 

 top of the rhizome, of two forms : some flat, elliptic, entire, nerveless, with a subcylin- 

 dric petiole dilated at its base; others (ascidia), scattered amongst the first, are 

 composed of a petiole which is dilated at the top into two lips, of which the lower is 

 large, hollowed into a cup, and opens by a circular orifice ; the upper is smaller, flat, 

 and serves as a lid to the cup. SCAPE simple, with scattered alternate bracts, ter- 

 minating in a spike composed of 4-5-flowered partial spikes furnished below with 

 linear bracts. FLOWERS in a corymb, small, white, ebracteate. CALYX coloured, 

 6-fid ; segments ovate-lanceolate, valvate in aestivation, with a small tooth at the 

 top within, clothed at the thickened base with capitate hairs. COROLLA 0. STAMENS 

 12, inserted at the top of the calycine tube, shorter than its limb, the six which 

 alternate with the sepals longer and forwarder than the others ; filaments subulate ; 

 anthers rounded, didymous, with opposite cells opening longitudinally ; connective 

 sub-globose, spongy. OVARIES 6, crowded, sessile, whorled on a flat receptacle 

 around a central bundle of hairs, alternate with the sepals, sub-compressed, 1-celled; 

 styles terminal, cylindric ; stigmas simple ; ovule solitary, erect, sub-basilar, anatro- 



