676 Mr. Bentham's Account of two new Genera allied to Olacineae. 



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 unripe 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. 



Dlacine^. 



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

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

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

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

 v. libera, numero petalorum dupla v. sequalia, fertilia rarius asymmetrica, 

 alterna saepe sterilia difformia. Antherce introrsse 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 coUateralia, rarius solitaria, ab apice placentae liberee • 

 V. ovario v. dissepimentis spuriis connatse pendula, anatropa. Stylus 

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

 4-1 obo. Drupa calyce immutato stipata v. ampliato cincta, velata, v. 

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



* De CandoUe (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 pendulous," 

 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 basilar! apicem fructus respiciente, ope rhapheos filifor- 

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

 which only agrees with what I have above described, on the supposition that he speaks of the phy- 

 siological but inconspicuous umbilicus and rhaphe, and not of the remains of the placenta, which 

 assume so much the appearance of an umbilicus 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 

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

 the placenta. 



