272 OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTS 



usual sources of distinction are less available, might be 

 noticed. 



Hesperis nitens of Viviani is sparingly in the herba- 

 rium, both in flower and fruit. The seeds, though not ripe, 

 are sufficiently advanced to show that the direction of 

 the cotyledons is in this stage accumbent ; and, as I have 

 found in Cruciferse generally that the ultimate agrees with 

 the early state of cotyledons, I conclude they are likewise ac- 

 cumbent in the ripe seed. The plant is also abundantly 

 different from Hesperis in other respects, and does not 

 appear to be referable to any genus yet published. This 

 new genus* I have dedicated to the memory of Dr. Oudney, 

 who found the present species in many of the wadeys 

 between Tripoli and Mourzuk, and remarks that camels 

 and mules eat it. 



230] Hesperis ramosissima, which is also in the herbarium, 

 was found in Fezzan. This plant differs in aspect from 

 most of the other species of Hesperis, approaching in some 

 points to Malcomia, in others to Mathiola ; and as its coty- 

 ledons are very obliquely incumbent, it may form a section 

 or subgenus, with a name, Hesperis (Plagiloba) ramosissima, 

 indicating that character. 



CapparidEjE, of which eight species occur in the col- 

 lection, is the family next to be noticed. I consider this 

 order as belonging to the same natural class with Cruciferse ; 

 and that this class includes also Resedacese, Papaveracese, 

 and FumariaccEe. 



M. De Candolle, in defining Capparidere, appears to 



1 OUDNEYA. 



Chae. Gen. Cal^x clausus, basi bisaccatus. Mlameida distincta, edentula. 

 Stigmata comiaia apioibus distinctis. Siliqua sessilis linearis rostrata, valvis 

 planis uninerviis, funioulis adnatis, septo avenio areolarura parietibus sub- 

 parallelis. Semina uniseriatia. Cotyledoms accumbentes. 



Suffrutex (0. Africana noli. Hesperis nitens, Viv. lib. p. 38, tab. 5, /. 3), 

 glaberrimus, ramosus. Folia integerrima sessilia avenia, ivferiora obovata, supc- 

 riora suhlinearia. Racemi terminales, ebracteati. Flores mediocris magnitztdinis, 

 petalorum laminis obovutis venosis. 



Obs. Oudneya ab Arabidi differt stigmatis forma, siliquse rostro, et dis- 

 sepimenti areolarum figura. Parrya ad quam genus nostrum accedit diversa 

 est dissepimento binervi venose ! calyce hand clauso, siliquse forma, et semini- 

 bus biseriatis testa corrugata. 



