312 FLORA INDICA. \_Lardizabalece. 



pefslstentibus vestiti. Folia alterna, digitata vel 'pinnata, exstipuMa, 

 foliolis ariiculatis. Inflorescentia racemosa, racemis axillarihus vel ter- 

 mi'iialihus interdum corymhom. Flores alhi mridescmtes vel purpurei. 

 Fructus pidposus, editlis. 



This small hut curious group was originally indicated as a distinct Order by Brown, 

 and has been admirably illustrated by Decaisne iu a paper published in the ' Archives 

 du Musee,' in 1837, since which time no addition has been made to our know- 

 ledge of the Order. Lardizahalem are quite intermediate between Menispermacece 

 and Berberidea, but possess in common a number of striMng characters, which en- 

 title them to be regarded as a very distinct family. In the number and arrangement 

 of the parts of the perianth the flowers agree with both Orders ; but their form, and 

 especially the shape of the stamens, which are often monadelpbous, and have elon- 

 gated anthers, readily distinguish them from both. The polyspermous fruit is also a 

 peculiar character, shared only by Podophyllum, amongst Berleridea. The abnormal 

 arrangement of the ovules over the whole surface of the ovary was formerly consi- 

 dered a universal distinguishing marlc, but in Becaisnea the ordinary type reappears. 



In the unisexual flowers and scandent habit of the majority of the-Order, Lardiza- 

 balea agree with Menispermacea, but the indefinite ovules and the whole structure 

 of the andrrecium at once distinguish them, and compound leaves do not occur in 

 Menisfermacecf., except in the imperfectly inown genus Burasaia, which, as we have 

 already mentioned, is in that respect quite intermediate, but seems to have the em- 

 bryo of Menispermacecv. To Berberidea: they approach through Lardizabala, which 

 has flowers and leaves more like those of a Berberry than those of the Asiatic genera 

 of the Order, and especially through Becaisnea, which has the simply pinnated 

 leaves, and leaflets articulating with the petiole, of the section Mahonia, and through 

 Podophyllum, which has a fleshy pericarp, broad placenta, and the seeds imbedded 

 in pulp. The solitary carpels of Berberide^p, however, at once distinguish them. 



The number of species known is very small, and, except two, which are natives of 

 western South America, beyond the tropic, the gi'oup is entirely confined to the 

 Himalayo-Chinese region, the species occm-ring throughout the Himalaya and in the 

 Khasia, and in the hilly regions of China and of Japan. None are known in Ava, 

 in the Malayan Peninsula, or in the Indian Archipelago. 



1. DECAISNEA, H.f. et T. 



Sepala 6, lineari-subulata, ssst. subimbricantia. Petala 0. Stamiua 

 in fl. maso. monadelpha, tubo cyliudrico, antheris oblongis, connectivo 

 in processum longum attenuatum producto ; in bennaphroditis parva, 

 antheris masoulorum similibus sed minoribus, filamento brevissime li- 

 bero sufFidtis. Ovaria 3, lineari-oblonga, stylo disciformi oblique obo- 

 vato-oblongo intus sulcato. Ovula placentis 2 filiformibus parallelis 

 suturse ventrali approximatis sed ab ea discretis inserta,indefinita, nume- 

 rosissima, anatropa. FoUiciili piilpa repleti; semina indefinita, prope 

 suturam ventralem biserialia, horizontalia, compressa, obovata, testa Crus- 

 tacea atro-fusca nitida Isevi. — Frutex erectus mhdmplex, foliis pinnatis, 

 inflorescentia racemosa termmali, floribus viridescentibus. 



This remarkable genus makes a very unexpected and valuable addition to our know- 

 ledge of the Natural Order to which it belongs, and will therefore most appropriately 

 have the name of J\r. Decaisne*, in whose admirable monograph we have a model of 



* Two Orchideous genera have already been dedicated to JI. Decaisne, one by 

 Bronguiart, the other by Lindley ; but, by an unfortunate mischance, iu both cases a 

 pr^'vious name supersedes that of Beraisnca. 



