NATUHAL HISTOriY OF PLANTS. 



iipon tlie edges iu membrauous lobes, generally five iu number,^ dis- 

 posed in quincuncial prnefloratiou in the bud. In tlic intervals are 

 found as many, or a smaller number- of appendages, generally 

 fleshy or glandular, very varied in form, sometimes petaloid and 



JSiijihi.rbia Lalhi/ris. 



Fig. 146. Long. sect, of flower (|). Fig. 1-14. Flower (f). Fig. 147. Flower, the perianth 



taken away. 



Fig. 149. Seed (^). Fig. 148 Dehiscent fruit (f). Fig. 150. Long. sect, of seed. 



much more developed than the true sepals, sometimes much cut and 

 covered with numerous glands ; their nature has been much dis- 

 cussed. The androceum is formed of an indefinite number of 

 stamens, disposed in five bundles, and inserted on a line correspond- 

 ing to the middle of the face of each sepal. In each bundle the 

 stamens are alternately disposed in two unequal parallel series,^ 

 each formed of an articulate filament of variable height, fi'om a 

 certain age, and of a bilocular anther, dehiscing by two longitudinal 

 clefts, lateral, or more or less extrorse.* In the intervals of the 

 bundles of stamens are generally seen five tongues, or five 



1 There sometimes flowers with four, more 

 rarely with seven or eight parts. 



- One, two, the anterior often wanting, fig. 

 145. 



3 Shorter as they are more inferior in the 

 bundle. 



A»n. Si: Nat. eer 2, iii. 338), " ovoid, three 

 folds ; in water spherical, with three bands, with 

 papilla; upon the bands. £. Pcpttis, (oval um- 

 bilici placed lengthwise) B. syhatim, E, verru- 

 cosa, JS. rirr/ata. In the three latter, the um- 

 bicili so large that there only remain a small 



The pollen is, according to II. Mohl (in border of the bands. 



