370 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



warm regions of South America, and are only distinguished by incon- 

 siderable characters. They are : Godoya, with sepals accompanied by 

 axillary tongues, stamens ten or indefinite in number, ramified in- 

 florescences, and simple or pinnate leaves ; Cespcdcsia, with sepals 

 naked within, the other characters being nearly those of Godoya ; 

 Blastemanthus, which has llowers arranged in racemes, with a calyx 

 accompanied without by imbricated bracts analogous to sepals, and 

 round ten fertile stamens a variable number of subulate staminodes ; 

 JPoecilandra, which has five fertile stamens, polymorphous stami- 

 nodes, and ramified inflorescences ; finally, Wallacea, with flowers 

 nearly like those of Pcecihtndra as to the five fertile stamens and 

 exterior staminodes, but solitary or geminate in the axils of the 

 entire leaves. 



De Candolle, 1 in 1811, considered this small family distinct. 

 Before him de Jussieu 3 placed Ochna among the group allied to 

 Magnoliacea; and Ouratea among the Gen. incertee sedis. The 

 family, adopted by most botanists, 3 was only represented at first by 

 the genera of the Ouratea and Goiuphice series, to which Miquel 4 

 added the genus Tetramerista. In 1S4G, Planchon 5 extended the 

 limits of the group by adding the two tribes Euthemidicce and Luxem- 

 burgiccx ; 6 the former only being then represented by the genus 

 Euthemis, the latter by the four genera Licvembergia, Godoya, Cespe- 

 desla, and Blastemanthus. Bentham and Hooker/ adopting the 

 same limits for the Oc/macea? familv, have added to its last tribe the 

 new genus Wallacea of Spruce, and Pcecilandra,* before connected 

 with Ternstrcemiacetf. In introducing, as w T e have done, Brackcn- 

 ridgea in the genus Ouratea, the number of types generically pre- 

 served is eleven, including about a hundred and thirty species. 

 The distinctive characters of the three series are the following : — 



1. Oukate/E. — Gynseceum with carpels independent in the ovaiy, 

 or ovary 2-15-celled, with one ovule in each cell, subtransverse or 



1 In Ann. Mus., xvii. 398; Prodr., i. (1824), or Mozsia (GvEKTN., Fruct., i. 344, t. 70), of 



735. which Benth. & Hook, say: "Gen. fid. Plan- 



- Gen. (1789), 232. ciionii falsum est, ex icone floris err oil. Jlorti 



s A. S. H., in Mem. Mus., x. 129. — Lindl., malab. et fruc>tu imperfecta anal, falsa GjEUT- 



Introd., ed. 2, 129 ; Veg. Kingd. (1846), 471, NEBI Actum. Cf. lloolc. Loud. Journ., v. 



Old. 178. 593." 



* Ft. Ind.-JBat., Snppl. (I860). 7 Gen) 316) ord. 41. 



5 In Hook. Loud. Journ., v. 581. 8 Tui., in Ann. Sciences Nat., sur. 3, viii. 



6 lie excluded Walkera (Schbeb., Gen., o7S) (1S17). 



