346 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



embryo. 1 There lire some hundred species' 2 of this genus, although 

 twice as many have been described. They are herbs, rarely frute- 

 scent, two-thirds of which belong to the temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere. The others are met with in the mountainous 

 parts of South America, in Australia, New Zealand, and South 

 Africa. The leaves are alternate, entire, or more or less cut, accom- 

 panied by two lateral stipules, generally foliaceous, wide, with 

 lamina often deeply divided. The flowers are axillary, pedunculate, 

 generally solitary, with two or three bractlets inserted on the 

 peduncle at a variable height. 3 



Beside the Violets are placed several genera ; they have all nearly 

 the same corolla, with a dilatation of varied shape above the base of 

 the inferior petal. They only differ from each other in characters 

 of little value ; such as the presence or absence of a prolongation 

 below the insertion of the sepals, the form and consistence of the 

 capsular fruit, the shape of the style and seeds, the consistence of 

 the stems, and the mode of inflorescence. 4 These are the genera 

 llybanthis, Agation, Sckweiggeria, Anchietea, Noisettia, and Corgnosfylis. 



III. SAUVAGESIA SERIES. 



The flowers of 8auvagesia b (figs. 370-375) are hermaphrodite and 

 regular. Upon the conical receptacle are inserted five sepals quin- 

 cuncially imbricated, and five equal alternate petals, arranged in 

 contorted priefloration in the bud. The androceum is formed of ten 



1 Often greenish. Fl. Sum., 159.— Oitdem., Viol., 7.— Thw., Cat. 



2 Cav., Icon., t. 529, 531.— H. B. K., Nov. PI. Zeyl., 20.— Gben. & Gode., Fl. de Fr., i. 

 Gen. et Spec, t. 492, 493. — Reichb., Ie. Fl. 175. — Waep., Rep., i. 213; ii. 766 ; v. 59; 

 Germ., iii. t. 1-23 his. — A. S. H., Fl. Bern. Ann., i. 65 ; ii. 65 ; iv. 232; vii. 309. 



Bres., 275, t. 26; Fl. Bras. Mer., ii. 135. — 3 De Gingins has divided this genus into 



Wight, III., t. 18. — Wight & Abn., Prodr., i. t five sections, founded principally on the form 



31. — Koyle, III. Rimal., t. 18. — Hook. f. & of the stvle : l.Nominium; 2. Dischidium (gen. 



Thoms., Fl. Brit. Ind., i. 182. — Pojpp. & Chrysion Spach); 3. Chameemelanium (gen. 



Endi., Nov. Gen. et Spec, t. 165,166. — C Lophion Spach); 4. Melanium (Jacea DC; — 



Gat, Ft. Chit., \. 205. — 'Ik. & Pl., in Ann. Sc Gen. Mnemion Spach); 5. Lepiidium. 



Sat., ser. 4, xvii. 119. — Geiseb., Fl. Brit. 4 For these differences, which it would be 



U'.-Ind., 26. — Chapm., Fl. S. Unit. St., 33. superfluous to repeat, see Genera. 



—A. Geat, Man., ed. 5, 76; Unit. St. Expl. b L., Gen., n. 286.— J., Gen., 426.— DC, 



Exp., But., i. 83.— Benth., Ft. Austral,, i. 98. Prodr., i. 315.— A. S. H., in Mem. Mus., xi. 11, 



—Hook, f., Sandb. New Zeal. Ft., 16.— t. 6, 7.— Enul., Gen., n. 5050.— Payee, Fam. 



Boiss., Fl. Or., i. 450.— Haet. & Sond., Fl. Nat,, 91. — B. H., Gen., 120, n. 18.— Schxizl., 



Cap., i. 73.— Oliv., Ft. Trop. Afr, i. 15.— Iconogr., fasc. 14, t. 191.— Sauvagea Neck., 



Til., in Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 5, ix. 299.— Te, & Elem., n. 1118. — Adans., Fam. des PI., ii. 



Pl., in Ann. Sc Nat,, ser. 4, xvii. 119.— Mjq., 4*9.— Irion V ""-. Jam., 3 79. t. 12, fi~. 3. 



