60 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



c^J-ri 



centa. The upper part of the carpellary leaf separates from the lower 

 by a transverse cleft, and represents the cover of the urn, while the 

 short style, crowned by a folded stigraatiferous head, does very well for 

 the knob. The ovules are numerous and arranged as Podophyllum, with 



their raphes superior. 1 AVhen 

 jeffersonia diphyUa. fa Q ]" c | f 4j ie capsule rises at 



maturity the seeds are freed ; 

 they have a fleshy basilar aril 3 

 and contain a little embryo near 

 the apex of the copious albumen. 

 Jeffersonia consists of perennial 

 herbs whose rhizome vegetates 

 like that of Podophyllum. The 

 leaves are alternate petiolate 

 digitiveined, usually bilobate or 

 bipartite. 3 The flowers are 

 solitary, each borne on a naked 

 peduncle. Of this genus also two 

 species are known, one American 4 

 the other from Northern Asia. 

 The flowers of Diphylleia 5 also resemble those of Podophyllum, 

 possessing a perianth of from nine to twelve leaves, whereof the 

 inner are larger and more petaloid. The stamens, six in number, 

 open by valves as in Epimedium. The ovary contains some four 

 ascending ovules 6 on a parietal placenta. The fruit is a few-seeded 

 berry. The only known species of this genus is D. cymosa, found 

 in North America and Japan. Its vegetative characters are those 

 of Podophyllum, but its flowers are numerous, grouped into an 

 umbelliform cyme on top of a terminal peduncle. 



Fig. 72. 

 Gynaeceurn (±). 



Fig. 73. 

 Long. sect, of gyuseceum. 



1 They have two coats, and those of the outer 

 series are the younger, as are the lower ones in 

 each row. 



2 Formed of cells springing from above the 

 hilum, and elongated into hairs. (See Adan- 

 sonia, ii. 287.) 



3 They are really trifoliolate, hut the develop- 

 ment of the terminal lobe is early stopped, so 

 that it is represented by a very little tongue. 

 (See Adansonia, ii. 291.) 



•' J. diphylla Pees., Syn., i. 418. — Michx., Fl. 



Bor.-Amer., i. 236. — Nutt., Gen., i. 253. — Sims, 

 in Bot. May., t. 1513.— Walp., Sep., i. 100; 

 Ami., ii. 23 ; vii. 75. 



5 L. C. Rich., in Micltx. Fl. Bor.-Amer., i. 

 903, t. 19, 20.— DC, Prodr., i. 110.— Nrrr., 

 Gen., i. 209. — Endl., Gen., n. 4808.— A. Geat, 

 Gen. III., t. 33.— B. H., Gen., 44, n. 16. 



6 When four in number they are arranged iu 

 two vertical rows, with their micropyles inferior ; 

 often there are only two or three. 



