SAXIFBAGACE^J. 



411 



XV. BRUNiEiE. — Flowers isostemonous, often capitulate, rarely in 

 compound spikes or racemes. Receptacle always concave. Ovary 

 wholly or partially inferior, 1-3-celled ; septa sometimes rudimentary 

 or absent. Ovules usually definite (1, 2) 1 in each cell, descending, 

 with the micropyle directed, before torsion, 2 upwards and inwards. 

 Fruit dry, indehiscent, dicoccous, or tricoccous. Shrubs or under- 

 shrubs of often ericoid habit ; leaves usually rigid acicular, tipped 

 (like the sepals, bracts, &c.) by a blackish glandular apiculus. 

 Stipules lateral small. This group was distinguished as an order by 

 R. Brown 3 in 1818 ; it formed the subject of a monograph of An. 

 Brongniart 4 in 1826, who included therein six of the genera which 

 we have retained in our studies on the order. 5 The authors of the 

 Flora Capensis 6 added to it in 1861 the genus Lonchostoma, which 

 had been successively referred to Thymelete and Retziete. 1 



XVI. Hamamelide.*;. — Flowers usually sessile, spicate or capitu- 

 late, hermaphrodite or polygamous ; perianth simple or double, 

 regular or unsymmetrical, or nearly absent. Anthers dehiscing by 

 clefts or valves. Ovary inferior or superior. Ovules (1, 2-oo ) like 

 those of the Bruniece? and presenting the same phenomenon of 

 torsion. Fruit capsular. Seeds albuminous. Trees and shrubs 

 with simple stipulate leaves (3 genera). This group was made by 

 R. Brown 9 a distinct order in 1818, a course followed by all sub- 

 sequent authors ; 10 we referred it as a mere tribe or series to Saxi- 



fragacece in 1865. 11 



XVII. Liquidambare^:. — Hamamelidea, with unisexual or poly- 

 gamous, spicate or capitulate flowers, possessing an ill-developed 

 perianth or none, and a corolla represented by narrow tongues (?) or 

 absent. Ovarian cells multiovulate. Female receptacle concave. 

 Fruit capsular. Trees with simple leaves (3 genera). A series 

 raised to ordinal rank, and placed near Amentacea by Blume 12 under 



1 Their number is often above two in Lon- 

 chostoma. 



2 See p. 382. 



3 In Abel's Voy., Bot. (1818), 374; Misc. 

 Works (ed. Benn.), ii. 322. — DC, Prodr., ii. 

 43 .— Lindl., Veg. Kingd., 785, Ord. 300. — 

 Endl., Gen., 805, Ord. 168. 



4 Mem. s-ur la Fam. des Bruniacees, in Ann. 

 So. Nat., ser. 1, viii. 357, t. 35-38. 



5 See Adansonia, iii. 318 ; v. 294. 



6 Hart. & Sond., op. cit., ii. 316. 



7 EwdJj., Gen., 669. 



3 Which Gabdneb (in Hook. Journ., i. 321) 

 placed with Hamamelidete. 



9 In Abel's Voy., Bot. (1818), 374; Misc. 

 Works (ed. Benn.), i. 381 ; ii. 321, 334. 



10 DC, Prodr., iv. 267.— Ende., Gen., 803, 

 ord. 167.— Lindl., Veg. Kingd., 784, ord. 299. — 

 B. H., Gen., 664, ord. 62. 



11 In Adansonia, v. 297 ; vi. 12. 



12 Fl. Jav., Balsamifl. (1828).— Endl., Gen., 

 289, ord. 98.— AG., Theor. Syst., 155. 



