mOTEACEJE. 



393 



III. PEKSOONIA SERIES. 



Persoonia salicina. 



Persoonia 1 (fig. 232) has regular hermaphrodite flowers. The 

 perianth consists of four valvate leaves, free or united below. The 

 androceum consists of four stamens 

 with introrse two- celled anthers, su- 

 perposed to the perianth-leaves. But 

 the filaments of these stamens are 

 distinct and free for a certain distance. 

 Four hypogynous glands, alternate 

 with the perianth-leaves, surround the 

 base of the ovary, which is surmounted 

 by an exserted style with a truncate or 

 dilated stigmatiferous apex. In the 

 cell are seen one or two 2 descending 

 orthotropous ovules with the micro- 

 pyle inferior. The fruit is a berry or a drupe, with a thin stone 

 whose cell is divided by a false septum into two cavities, each of 

 which contains a seed in the dispermous fruits. Within the seed 

 coats is a fleshy exalbuminous embryo. 3 Persoonia consists of trees 

 and shrubs, with usually alternate simple entire coriaceous leaves ; 

 the flowers 4 are axillary pedunculate, solitary or few together, rarely 

 forming terminal racemes, through the replacement of the leaves 

 of the branch by bracts. About seventy species 5 have been de- 

 scribed, all natives of Australia and New Zealand. 



Next to Persoonia come five closely analogous genera : Symplnjoncma, 

 in which the ovaries are also indifferently uni- or biovulate ; and 

 Faurea, Brabejum, Cenarrhe?ies, and Agastachys, where the ovule is 



Fig. 232. 

 Longitudinal section of flower (f ). 



1 Sm., in Trans. Linn. Soc, iv. 215 ; Fxot. 

 Bot., ii. t. 83. — R. Be., in Trans. Linn. Soc, x. 

 160 ; Prodr., 371 ; Suppl. 12. — GJERTN., Fruct., 

 iii. 218, t. 220. — Endl., Gen., n. 2138,— Meissn., 

 Prodr., 329. — Pentadactylon GiERTN., loc. cit. 

 — Linkia Cav., Icon., iv. 61, t. 189 (nee 

 Pers.). 



2 The number may vary in flowers on the saino 

 plant, and even on the same branch. 



3 There are often more than two cotyledons, as 

 R. Brown showed as early as 1830. 



4 Yellowish in colour. 



5 Pers., Syn., i. 118. — Sm., Fxot. Bot., ii. 

 47, t. 83. — Labile., Nouv.-HolL, i. 33, t. 45. — 

 Grah., in James. N. Phil. Journ. (1828), 177. 

 — Andr., Bot. Repos., t. 74, 77. — Hook., Icon., 

 t. 425.— A. Ctjnn., in Bot. Mag., t. 3513; in 

 Field N. South-Wal., 329. — Lindl., Swan Riv., 

 35., n. 172, 174.— Kipp., in Hook. Journ. (1855), 

 72. — Hook, p., in Hook. Journ.. vi. 2S3. — 

 Meissn., in Hook. Journ. (1852), 185; (1855), 

 71. — F.MrJELL., Fragm., v. 37; vi. 220. — Besth. 

 & F. Mueel., Fl.Auslr., v. 380.— Walp., Ann., 

 i. 590. 



