300 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



flowers possessing eight nearly equal marcescent sepals, as many alter- 

 nate ill-developed petals, which become more simple anteriorly, and 

 sixteen stamens of Reseda. These last are, like the perianth-leaves, of 

 somewhat perigynous insertion, owing to the concavity of the recep- 

 tacle which forms an everted cupule. It is lined by a disk which is 

 better developed behind than in front and bears in the centre a little 

 di- or tricarpellary gynaeceum (of Reseda), which becomes a dry 

 fruit, gaping at maturity. 



The Resedas were formerly included by Adanson 1 in the Capers 

 {Carriers) ; by Batsch 2 in Fiolariacece. A. D. de Jussieu 3 placed them 

 in the genera Capparidibus affinia. It was A. P. De Candolle 4 who 

 in 1813 made them the type of an order, Resedacece, since admitted by 

 all authors, 5 and considered by all a neighbour of Crucifera, possessing 

 the same habit, consistency, 6 taste, size, duration, with nearly the same 

 seed and embryo, differing chiefly in androceum gynscceum and fruit. 7 

 Hence it is also closely allied to Capparidacea. Necker 8 in 1790 

 distinguished Astrocarpus from Reseda. Deijle added Ochradenus in 

 1813. In two memoirs on this order, the latter 9 published in 1837, 

 A. Saint-Hilaire established the genus Caylusea. Oligomcris of Cam- 

 bessedes 10 dates from 1834 ; and Cosson has recently" added Randonia. 

 With these six genera the order would contain sixty -eight species 



1 Fam. des PL, ii. (1763), 407. 

 - Tall. Affin. (1802), 57 (part.). 



3 Gen. (1789), 245. 



4 Theor. Elem., 214, n. 21 ; ed. 2, 244. 



5 R. Be., in Denh. Sr Clapp. Nan:, 22 ; in 

 Ann. Sc. Nat, ser. 1, ix. 213.— A. S. H., in 

 Ann. Soc. Roy. d' Orleans, xiii. ; Deux. Mem. 

 sur les Resedac. (1837), in Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 2, 

 vii. 371.— Endl., Gen., 895, ord. 183.— Lindl., 

 Collect., 22; Nix. PL, 52; Veg. Kingd., 356, 

 ord. 121. The last author considered that the 

 flowers of this order were as in Euphorbiacece, 

 each a true inflorescence. He termed involucre 

 what we have described as a calyx. The disk 

 was the true calyx of a central female flower 

 represented by the gynjeceum ; the stamens 

 were so many fertile male flowers, while the 

 petals were external sterile male flowers. Later 

 on he gave up this view, convinced of his mistake 

 by the arguments of Henslow (in Trans. Cambr. 

 Phil. Soc, v.). 



6 Ochradenus and Randonia are frutescent. 



The anatomical structure of the herbaceous Rese- 

 das has been studied in R. lutea by J. Mueller 

 {Mori., 16, t. 1). He found that the woody zone 

 consisted of a thick -walled parenchyma, traversed 

 by large dotted vessels, with elongated paren- 

 chyma cells in their immediate neighbourhood. 

 The medullary are complete, thick, pretty nume- 

 rous. The liber cells are very thick walled, 

 elongated, usually collected into groups of from 

 three to seven (Oliv., Stem, in Dicot., 6). 



' By means of the last two characters we 

 divide the order into two series: 1. Astrocarpece, 

 with free carpels, possessing in this respect 

 no analogues in Cruciferte. 2. Resedece, with 

 parietal or subbasilar placentas in a constantly 

 unilocular ovary, and with a sometimes dicarpel- 

 lary gynseceum, as in Cruciferce. 



' s Elem. Bot., ii. 243. 



9 Dev.xieme Memoire sur les Resedacees, 

 Montpellier, 4to. 



10 In Jacquem. J'og., Bot., iv. 21. 



11 In Bull. Soc. Bot. de Fr.. vi. (1859). 



