676 Mr. Bentham's Account of two new Genet^a allied to Olacinese. 



misunderstood by others, who have imagined that the broad umbilicus is di- 

 rected towards the apex of the fruit*. 



In Apodytes, and (as far as I can ascertain from uni-ipe fruit or descriptions) 

 in Pogopetalum, Icacina and Gomphandra, where the placenta is combined 

 with the side of the fruit, the seed is pendulous from near the top of the cell, 

 and the radicle is consequently next the hilum. 



The most important of the above variations of character may be condensed 

 in the following synoptical view of the order. 



Olacine^. 



Calyx parvus, liber v. basi adnatus, truncatus v. denticulatus, fructifer per- 

 sistens immutatus v. auctus. Corollœ petala 4, 5, v. 6 hypogyna v. sub- 

 perigyna subcoriacea, sestivatione valvata, libera v. per paria connexa v. 

 basi in tubum coalita. Stamina definita, cum petalis inserta, iis coalita 

 V. libera, numéro petalorum dupla v. sequalia, fertilia rarius asymmetrica, 

 alterna stepe sterilia diftormia. Antherœ introrsee biloculares, loculis 

 rima longitudinali dehiscentibus. Ovarium toro nunc parvo, nunc in- 

 crassato et interdum cum calyce concreto insidens, uniloculare (nunc 

 spurie et incomplete 3 — 4-loculare), v. rarius excentrice triloculare. Ovula 

 in loculo 2, 3, v. 4 collateralia, rarius solitaria, ab apice placentae liberté 

 v. ovario v. dissepimentis spuriis connatœ pendula, anatropa. Stylus 

 erectus simplex ; stigmate nunc truncato tenui, nunc incrassato 2-, 3-, 

 4-lobo. Drupa calyce immutato stipata v. ampliato cincta, velata, v. 

 adnata; pericarpio tenui carnoso v. exsucco, putainine crustaceo v. os- 



* De Candolle (Prodr. i. p. 531) says, " Semen pendulum, basi umbilicatum ;" Lindley {Introd. 

 p. 32) has, "Seed pendulous;" and Wight and Arnott (Prodr. p. 88), " Seed usually jiendulous," 

 without mention, however, of the broad apparent umbilicus, which, rather than the real inconspicuous 

 umbilicus, appears to me to be alluded to by DeCandolle. Endlicher {Gen. PI. p. 1041) enters into 

 more detail : " Semen inversum .... umbilico basilari apicem fi-uctus respiciente, ope rhapheos filifor- 

 mis, interdum obsolet», cum chalaza apicali, basim carpicam spectante, conjuncto;" a description 

 which only agrees with what 1 have above described, on the supposition that he speaks of the i)liy- 

 siological but inconspicuous lunbilicus and rliaphe, and not of the remains of the placenta, which 

 assume so much the appearance of an umbUicus and rhaphe. In Wight's Illustrations (t. 40) the fig. 

 9. referred to in the explanation as a bad representation of the seed " cut lengthwise to show the 

 wliole length of the embryo," gives a tolerably fair idea of the outside of the seed with the trace of 

 the placenta. 



