176 ENGLISH BOTANT. 



Sub-Class V.— APETAL-ffi. 



Perianth usually single or none. Calyx free or more or less adhering 

 to the ovary, herbaceous or petaloid, sometimes rudimentary or absent. 

 Petals none, or very small, or similar to the calyx. Ovules enclosed 

 in an ovaiy, fertilised by the pollen falling on a stigma, and not 

 directly upon the ovule. Ovules containing only a primary embi-yo 



ORDER LIX.— PARONYCHIACEiE.* 



Small annual or perennial herbs, the stems usually procumbent and 

 diffuse, sometimes shrubby at the base. Leaves opposite, rarely alter- 

 nate, almost always with minute scai'ious stipules. Flowers perfect, 

 very minute, in tenninal and axillary cymes or glomerules. Calyx 

 of 4, 5, or 3 sepals, or 4- or 5-cleft or partite. Petals usually 

 none or reduced to 5 small filaments, rarely conspicuous. Stamens 

 as many as the divisions of the calyx. Ovary free from the calyx, 

 1 -celled; ovules solitary or rarely several on a free central placenta; 

 styles 2 to 3, sometimes none ; in which case the ovary has 2 or 3 

 distinct stigmas. Capsule 1-celled, generally a utricle. Seed 1 or 

 rarely several, with a recurved embryo and mealy albumen. 



Tribe I.— PARONYCHIC^. 



Sepals free nearly to the base. Petals minute or absent. Stipules 

 present, usually scarious. 



GENUS /.— ORRIGIOLA. Linn. 



Calyx herbaceous, persistent, 5-partite; segments concave, ovate, 

 obtuse, with white scarious margins. Petals 5, perigonous, oval or 

 oblong, as long as the calyx. Stamens 5. Ovary 1-celled, and con- 



* The order Paronychiacece is closely related to the polypetalous order Caryo- 

 phyllaceaB on the one hand, and to the apetalous order Amarantaceae on the other. I 

 have followed Mr. Bentham in placing it in juxtaposition to the latter. The group 

 Apetalre is almost universally admitted to be as unnatm-al as one of Linnreus' classes 

 founded on the number of stamens, and it is retained solely on account of convenience, 

 the absence of petals being a character readily recognisable, although unfortunately 

 all apetalous plants cannot be placed in this group. 



II 



