594 



CLXIII. COLUMELLIACE.E. 



Columrllia. 

 Flower cut vertically (mag.)' 



Culumellia bienni>. 



Cotumellia. 

 Corolla and andra-cium laid open (mag.)* 



Columellia. 



T*prij.'ht ana- 



tropouH ovule 



(mag.). 



Columellia. 

 Embryo sepa- 

 rated from its 

 albmiieu (mag.). 



Columellia. Seed 



cut vertically 



(mag.). 



placed right and left of the floral axis ; slyle short, thick, 2-sulcate ; stigma 2-lobed ; 

 ovules numerous, ascending, anatropous. CAPSULE sub-woody, semi-superior by the 

 growth of its top, septicidal ; valves 2, bifid. SEEDS numerous, ascending, obovoid, 

 compressed ; testa coriaceous, soft ; hilum basilar ; chalaza apical ; raphe almost 

 wanting. EMBRYO straight ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons ovoid, obtuse ; radicle longer 

 than the cotyledons, cylindric, inferior. 



This little family, composed of the single genus Columellia, should normally be placed between 

 Hubiacea and Gesneracete, as in the latter family the leaves are opposite, the corolla is monopetaloua 

 epigynous sub-irregular anisostemonous, the ovules are numerous and anatropous, the placentas are 

 placed right and left of the floral axis, the embryo is straight and albuminous ; but the sinuous anthers 

 of Columellia and the septicidal dehiscence of the capsule render the diagnosis easy. They are also very 

 near Rubiuccee in the opposite leaves, epigynous corolla, septicidal capsule and albuminous embryo ; they 

 are principally separated from them by their {estivation and anisostemonous corolla [and exstipulate leaves]. 

 Columelliece are natives of Mexico and Peru. [Lindley describes the anthers as G-celled, the cells 



: arranged in three pairs on the 3~lobed fleshy connective. May not this genus be referable to Logani- 



. acea. ? ED.] 



