THE AFFINITIES OF PHONIA 115 
and a system of cortical concentric (2. e. periphloic) bundles, which 
ion 
nunculacee ; on 
the other hand, a very fair case could be made out for classing the 
wee 
culace@; and this, I think, we find to be indeed the case. 
with the folsage-leaves.~- ost universal tendency in the 
wlacee is towards subdivision of the comparatively large 
leaf into mor less es. the oliacee and 
Peonia, i.e. 
leaf and considerable laminar development. In the structure of the 
stomates and subsidi Peont bles l h 
more than Magnoliacee, &c. The absence of stipules is a feature 
common to Ranunculacee and certain genera of Magnoliacee. 
us now appro a study of the e e manner in 
which the bracts pass imperceptibly into the sepals in P@ont 
reminds one at once same phenomenon in Calycanthacee, 
cases, e.g. in Anemone, is unknown, a sharp distinction always 
prevai ween bracts and sepals. In Calycant the 
transition between the two organs is very gradual; in Ponca it is 
much less gradual, and hence this latter genus is intermediate in 
this respect between the two extreme cases. The spiral arrange- 
ment of the sepals on the axis occurs in Ranunculaceae, certain 
Magnoliacea, e. g. Illiciee, Schizandree, and Calycanthacee. The 
ia 
corolla in P@onia constitutes an approach to Ranunculacee, for in 
Magnoliacee the corolla is Niet! -merous and possesses as a 
rule more than two whorls or cycles. : ie 
The andreecium, with its indefinitely and spirally arranged nume- 
all these groups; hence I 
s I 
