508 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



stamens are three in number as in Valeria nella, that is the posterior 

 is wanting and also one of those alternating with the anterior lobe of 

 the corolla ; more rarely the andrcecium is composed of one or two 



Valeriana officinalis. 



Fig. 404. Flower {\). 



Fig. 405. One half 

 of flower. 



Fig. 406. The other 

 half of flower. 



pieces only. The ovary has only one fertile cell containing a descending 

 ovule with micropyle primarily superior and interior ; the other two 

 are nervelike or almost invisible. They are rarely found in the 

 monospermous fruit, the seed of which is descending, generally with- 



Valeriana oj^cinalis. 



0' 



Fig. 407. Fruit (?}. 



Fig. 408. Long, sect, of fruit. 



out albumen, enclosing a fleshy embryo with more or less flattened 

 cotyledons and superior radicle. They are annual or perennial 

 herbs, sometimes frutescent at the base, various in form like FhyllactiSy 

 rarely climbing, with leaves opposite, entire, pinnatifid or two or 

 three times pinnatisect, sometimes biform in one and the same species ; 

 flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual disposed in compound terminal 



