144 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



while the central part of the receptacle which supjjorts the stamens 

 hecomes more drawn out ; the pericarp is either distinctly dehiscent or 

 completely indehiscent ; finally, the embryo has flat or crumpled coty- 

 ledons, frequently becoming thinner and thinner, and surrounding 

 themselves in consequence with more or less considerable albumen. 



The form of the receptacle is modified in Jndjrichnc, remaining, 

 however, in general, slightly concave ; it is a sort of small shallow 

 disk, on the edges of which are inserted the sepals and the petals, 

 sometimes wanting or very small. The glands of the disk are oppo- 



Pi>r(intJin-n eric^idca. 



Fig. 234. Male flower (s). Fig. 235. Longitudinal section of male flower. 



site the petals and not the sepals, and the anthers are introrse. The 

 seeds are albuminous. In other respects the small group of Aii- 

 draclmccB is very analogous to the sub-scries Amanoecc ; it includes 

 many under-shrubs groAving in both worlds, especially in the tem- 

 perate regions. The Porantheras (fig. 234, 235), all natives of 

 Australia, have the same floral symmetry as Andrachne ; but their 

 linear leaves are cricoid, and, in consecpenee, the cotyledons are 

 narrow and thick, instead of being membranous. The anthers, with 

 four small cells, open above by four short clefts whose separated 

 edge encircles a sort of oval pore. 



Lachnostj/lis, consisting of shrubs fi'om the Cape, approaches nearer 

 Andrachne by its foliage, having the aspect of Mijrica, and its alterni- 

 petalous stamens, borne on a central column, like those of most 

 Amanoas. The Payerias^ trees from the eastern islands of Southern 

 Africa, with alternate or opposite leaves, have also pentamerous 

 flowers, provided with petals ; but the female calyx has the form of 

 a sac with very short teeth, which seem valvate ; and the ovary, 

 surmounted by a stylo in form of an entire column, has five cells 

 superposed to these teeth. 



