134 BALSAMINACE^. 



ceous subulate appendage which arises from the inner face 

 towards the summit ; these five appendages are connivent or 

 coherent over the apex of the pistil, where they retain the 

 stamens after they separate from their insertion : anthers 

 oval or cordate, fixed by the base, introrse, two-celled (the 

 cells distinct, or sometimes connate-confluent at their apex, 

 opening longitudinally or obliquely down the inner face. 

 PoLLEN-grains oval, simple. Ovary five-celled, the cells 

 alternate with the sepals and with the stamens : style 

 none : stigma small, sessile, entire or minutely five-tooth- 

 ed. Ovules few or several in a single series and pendu- 

 lous from the inner angle of each cell, anatropous ; the 

 raphe thickened, sometimes produced beyond the chalaza, 

 ventral. 



Capsule oblong, prismatic or nearly terete, becoming one- 

 celled by the obliteration of the dissepiments, with a thick 

 and fleshy axis or placenta, bursting elastically when ripe by 

 loculicidal dehiscence (usually from the base upwards) into 

 five valves ; the valves thick, with a fleshy exocarp and an 

 almost cartilaginous epicarp, often splitting in two longitudi- 

 nally, strongly revolute (in the Balsams), or twisting spirally 

 (in the Touch-me-not), as the pod falls in pieces. Seeds 

 few or several in each cell, pendulous from the central axis, 

 oval, with a fleshy and often four-ribbed testa, destitute of 

 albumen. Embryo straight, filling the cavity of the seed : 

 COTYLEDONS oval, thick and fleshy, or plano-convex: radi- 

 cle very short, superior. 



Herbs, commonly annual, with succulent stems, and alter- 

 nate, or sometimes opposite or verticillate, simple pinnately- 

 veined leaves, destitute of stipules. Peduncles axillary, 

 one-flowered, or racemosely several-flowered. Flowers vari- 

 ously colored, articulated with the apex of the pedicel, com- 

 monly resupinate-pendulous, so that the great saccate-spurred 

 sepal appears to be inferior. Many of the large and fully 

 developed flowers fall away without forming fruit ; while 

 others, especially the earlier ones, become fertilized in the 

 bud while yet minute ; when the growth of the fertilized 

 ovary detaches and carries up on its apex, like a calyptra, the 



