iry fruit. On the other hand, whilst the structure of the seeds 
forms a constant and positive distinction between the Orders, the 
Loasacee may also be generally known by the “— of tendrils, 
hermaphrodite flowers, numerous stamens and dry fr 
The connection with Passifloracee and other ee allied to Cu- 
curbitacez can only be said to be through the latter, and therefore 
requires no further comment. The older opinion, however, that 
ecanagl are mig near Onagracee, put forth first, perhaps, by Jussieu, 
appears o have been ane shandey. although founded on a 
mere artificial ganas It seems, indeed, cult to trace any other 
resemblance than what is common to all ReMi calyciflorous 
Orders; for even the adherent ovarium, the only additional character 
the two Orders appear to have in common, is not quite constant in 
Loasacez, and is, moreover, of far less apreties than the regular 
binary arrangement of the floral and carpellary parts, and the central 
placentation which so widely remove the Onagracee, independently of 
the exalbuminous seeds, the very different habit, and other minor 
characters. 
The greater number of Loasacee are remarkable for a property 
which they have in common with the totally different Order of Urticezx, 
the stinging nature of the secretion from the hairs, the only drawback 
to their more general cultivation as ornaments to our flower borders 
and greenhouses. Yet, as many of them, especially the species now 
figured, may be trained to a considerable height, and produce a 
profusion of flowers, they are conspicuous enough to be placed at 
a distance from the paths, sufficient to avoid all inconvenience in this 
respect. 
Another circumstance, worthy of remark in this order, is the facility 
with which the transition from petals to stamens may be observed. 
As in Bartonia and Mentzelia the transition is direct, some species 
haying ten similar petals; others five petals and five petaloid stamina 
alternating with them; and others again, five petals, with the place of 
the five others occupied by stamina not in the least differing from the 
others; so in Loasa, Caiophora, &c. the transition is through the 
squame, which, with the filaments arising from their inner base, are 
evidently transformations of the petals and bundles of stamina with 
which they alternate. 
One of the most curious anomalies in this Order is the Gronovia 
scandens of Linneus, which, in its palmately-nerved leaves and 
definite stamina, affords a further approach to Cucurbitacex, whilst it 
has stinging hairs, hermaphrodite flowers and no tendrils, as in 
Loasacee, and is singular by its solitary pendulous ovarium, and the 
presence of a cupular disk or corona between the stamina and style. 
