222 POLYGALACE^. 



diadelphous, usually in two equal phalanges, which are ad- 

 nate to the corolla, one each side of the anterior petal, either 

 unconnected except by means of the corolla (as in P. pau- 

 cifolia, therefore diadelphous), or united anteriorly into one 

 membrane (monadelphous) : filaments distinct above, fili- 

 form : ANTHERS ovoid or cup-shaped, fixed by their base, 

 opening at the apex by a large pore or a transverse cleft, 

 one-celled, or when young sometimes two-celled. Pollen 

 of simple globular grains. Disk a posterior hypogynous 

 gland, or rarely annular, often obsolete. Ovary laterally 

 compressed, two-celled, the cells anterior and posterior : 

 STYLE terminal, curved, ascending, thickened upwards, of 

 very various forms, often lobed, usually compressed, either 

 in the same plane as the ovary or in the contrary direction : 

 STIGMA either terminal or lateral. Ovule solitary in each 

 cell, pendulous from its inner angle near the summit, anatro- 

 pous ; the raphe ventral. 



Capsule membranaceous, two-celled, compressed contrary 

 to the dissepiment, obcordate, oval, or orbicular and emar- 

 ginate, opening at the margins by loculicidal dehiscence. 

 Seed solitary in each cell, suspended, with a crustaceous 

 testa, appendaged at the hilum by a fleshy or spongy carun- 

 cle, which is frequently extended into two or three con- 

 spicuous lobes sometimes as long as the seed itself. Em- 

 bryo large, nearly the length of the seed, straight, in the 

 •axis of rather thin or scanty and fleshy albumen : cotyle- 

 dons flat or plano-convex, fleshy : radicle short and coni- 

 cal, (or sometimes little shorter than the cotyledons them- 

 selves,) superior. 



Herbs of small size, or in warmer regions shrubby plants; 

 with a bitter aqueous, or in the roots sometimes milky, juice, 

 and alternate, rarely opposite or verticillate, entire leaves, 

 destitute of stipules. Flowers of various colors, subsolitary, 

 or most commonly in terminal or rarely axillary spikes or 

 racemes, which are often cymose or panicled. All the flow- 

 ers are perfect ; but in several species (such as P. polygama 

 and P. paucifolia) the conspicuous flowers seldom mature 

 fruit, while this is abundantly produced by others, which 



