24 



NATURAL llTsrOHV OF PLANTS. 



OxaVis vhlacea. 



In tlie inner angle of each cell is a placenta supporting one, two, 

 or an indefinite number of clescendent, anatropous ovules with 

 exterior and superior micropyle, disposed at fia-st in two vertical 

 series^ The fruit, generally accompanied by the persistent calyx, 

 is a loculicidal capsule, the pericarp remaining after dehiscence 



adhering to the axis of the fi'uit.- 

 By the clefts of dehiscence escape 

 a very variable number of seeds con- 

 taining, under their triple coat," a 

 fleshy albumen, the axis being occu- 

 pied by a straight embryo. The 

 outer coat, thick and fleshy ,'^^ opens at 

 matuilty (fig. Gl) and seimrates fi-om 

 the iuner parts of the seed elastically 

 throwing them to a distance. This 

 genus contains at least two huncbed 

 species,'' natives especially of South 

 Africa and the tropical and temjjerate 

 regions of South America. There 

 are some half dozen species widely 

 dispersed, some in the tropical, others 

 in temperate regions of the whole 

 world. They are herbs, undershrubs 

 or shrubs of small size. The leaves 

 are alternate, petiolate, compound-pin- 

 nate or digitate, trifoliate or formed of a large number of articulate 

 folioles,*' entire or bilobato, more rarely reduced to a single foliole. 



Fig. &1. Habit. 



* They have two coats. The exostome is often 

 prolonged into a more or less thick tube some- 

 times capped by an obturator. 



'^ In Bioplnjttiin (fig. 67) the valves of the 

 fruit always expand into the form of a star. 



^ The deep layer is membraneous and whitish. 

 The middle layer is thick, crustaceous, of dusky 

 colour. 



* Formed of whitish cellules or rarely of 

 tracheal bundles. 



* Jacq. Oxalid. Moil. Vindob. (1794), in-4. 

 — Eeichb. Ic. Fl. Ocrm. v. t. 199. — Zl'Cc. in 

 Denks. Ak. Miinch. ix. (1825), t. 1-6 ; in Ab/i. 

 Munch, i. (1831), t. 1-3.— H. B. K. Nov. Gen. ct 

 Spec. V. t. 466-471.— A. S. H. PI. Us. Jims. i. 

 104, t. 43-45 ; FL Bras. Mo: i. 104, t. 21-25.— 

 C. CiAY, F!. Chil. i. 122.— Griseii. Cat. PI. 2 Cub. 



47 ; Ft. Brit. W. hid. 133.— A. Gray Man. ed. 

 5, 109.— Ohapm. Fl. S. Umt. St. 63.— Hook. f. 

 Fl. N. Zd. t. 13 ; Man. 38.— Bexth. Fl. 

 Austral, i. 300; Fl. Hongloiig. 56,- Wight, 

 Ion. t. 18; III. t. &2 {Bioi>hytiim).—T:u\\'. 

 Fiiam. PI. Zei/l. 64, 409.— Boiss. Fl. Or. i. 860. 

 — Oliv. Fl. Trap. Afr.; i. 295.— Harv. et 

 SoND. Fl. Cap. ; i. 313.— Gken. et Godr. Fl. 

 dc Fr. i. 325.— Bot. Mag. t. 155, 237, 4490, etc. 

 — Walp. Rep. i. 476 ; ii. 821 ; v. 383; Ami. i. 

 147 ; ii. 240 ; iv. 399 ; vii. 495. 



^ It is one of the differences between the tnie 

 O.ialls and Binji/iijtiiiii that the leaves of the 

 latter are paripinnate, with numerous foliolcs, 

 ai'ticulated and endowed with gentle movements 

 under the influence of light, darkness, shocks; 

 in fact, nearly the same conditions as in Jlimosa. 



