Ord. LIMNANTHACEiE. 



Herbae parviilas Tropaeoloideas ; foliis pinnatisectis ; flori- 

 biis omnino symmetricis et regularibus 6- v. 10-andris ; ovulis 

 erectis ; radicula iiifera. 



LiMNANTHEJE, R. Br. in Lond. & Edinb. Phil. Mag. 1833. Lindi. Bot. 



Reg. t. 1673. Meisn. PI. Vase. p. 135. Endl. Gen. p. 1175. 

 LiMNANTHACE.aE, Lindl. Introd. Nat. Syst. ed. 2. p. 142. Torr. & Gray, 



Fl. N. Am. 1. p. 209. 

 TROP.ffi:oLACEjE, Tr. LimnanthejE, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 36G. 



The Limnanthes Family was founded by Mr. Brown, (who first de- 

 tected its real affinities,) upon two plants only, each the type of a genus ; 

 namely, Floerkea, an inconspicuous annual of the Northern United States, 

 and Limnanthes Douglasii of California, which, brought into cultivation from 

 seeds sent to England by the lamented Douglas, who discovered it, is now 

 a well-known annual in our gardens. The latter bears abundance of pretty 

 white flowers with a pale-yellow centre. Recently two additional species of 

 Limnanthes have been discovered in California, by Mr. Hartweg and by the 

 enterprising Fremont, one of which has pure white, the other rose-colored 

 blossoms. 



This small family is closely allied to the Lidian-Cress Family, or Tropa^o- 

 lacea; (of which the Tropaeolum majus, the Nasturtium of the gardens, is 

 a familiar representative), and perhaps should be combined with it, as has 

 been done by Lindley, notwithstanding the dissimilarity of external appear- 

 ance. For this dissimilarity is chiefly owing to the irregularity of the flowers 

 of Tropaeolum ; while those of Limnanthes and Floerkea are perfectly reg- 

 ular, as well as symmetrical. In this respect, therefore, they differ only as 

 the Hellebore or the Columbine differs from the Larkspur and the Aconite, 

 which nevertheless evidently belong, not only to the same order, but to tlie 

 same tribe. A more important distinction, however, is to be found in the 

 insertion and direction of the ovule and seed, which are erect from the base 

 of the cell in the present family, but suspended in Tropa;olaceffi. 



Tlie embryo has the same structure in botli : the cotyledons are very large, 

 so as to fill the whole seed, thick and fleshy, plano-convex, or even hemi- 

 spherical, extended below tlieir insertion so as to be deeply auriculale at the 

 base, and forming a narrow cavity in which the very short radicle is entirely 

 concealed. 



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