Hypecoum.'\ flora indica. 275 



questioned. The same argument we consider opposed to Lindley's view of the sepals 

 of Pumariacets being bracts, the outer petals, sepals, etc., the inner alone true pe- 

 tals, chiefly because the relation of the stamens to the petals is, as above stated, ex- 

 actly what occurs in the Berberideous genera mentioned above, and because Meconia 

 in Papmeracecs has also only four petals and as many stamens. 



De Candolle (Syst. ii. 101) says, that according to Schultes, Obs. Bot. 26, H. pro- 

 cumbens has sometimes four sepals and six stamens. This increase of the number of 

 sepals is further opposed to the view of the sepals being bracts, and the presence of 

 six stamens reduces the genus to the hexandrous type common to all other Pumari- 

 acece. The position of the two additional sepals and stamens is not given by De 

 Candolle ; but if the six latter consist of two pairs, opposite to the smaller petals, and 

 consequently to the outer sepals, it affords an additional point of affinity between 

 Fumariaeece and Cruoifera, and favours M. Gay's views of the identity of the sta- 

 minal formula in these two Orders (Ann. So. Nat. ser. 2. xviii. 216). 



Grisebach (Bl. Rumel.) describes the anthers as eight, combined into four pha- 

 langes, as follows : — " Antherae 8 in phalangibus 4 distinctis petalo oppositis binatim 

 conjunctae;" and again, "Stamina tetradelpha per paria petalo opposita" (Grundriss 

 der Syst. Bot. 70), but in our specimens (and all others we have examined) the sta- 

 mens are as described by other authors, namely, four opposite the petals, with some- 

 times a real or perhaps only apparent cohesion of the anthers. The anthers are com-- 

 pletely enclosed within the middle lobes of the lateral petals during impregnation, 

 when the lobes retain the pollen in contact with the stigma, exactly as the lateral 

 petals do in other Fumariaceoe. Indeed, the bud of Ilypecoum scarcely differs from 

 that of a spnrless Corydalis in appearance, the outer petals being sharply keeled at 

 their connivent apices, and the inner enclosing the anthers in their tips. 



Bernhardi (Liunsea, viii.) regards the sepals as bracts, the two outer petals as 

 sepals, and the two inner as stamens and petals combined : but this appears to us 

 to be a purely hypothetical view, and not supported by any anatomical or morpho- 

 logical facts in the structure of these organs or their relations. 



We have in vain endeavoured to find any character whereby to separate Chiazo- 

 spermum generically from Hypecoum ; the articulation of the pod varies greatly in 

 amount, and is shared by Eypecoum to a considerable extent. The forms of this 

 genus are, like all cut-leaved herbaceous annuals, excessively variable in habit and 

 foliage, and there are probably extremely few good species. 



1. H. procumbens (Linn. Sp. PI. 181); siliquis arouatis sub- 

 compressis, sepalis ovatis, petalis exterioribus late obcuneato-trilobis, 

 interioribus alte trilobis, lobo intermedio spathiilato margine subciliato. 

 — SibtJiorp, Flor. Grac. ii. 46. t. 155 ; 8chkuhr, Handbucli, i. 90. t. 27; 

 DC. Syst. ii. 102, Prodr. i. 123. 



Hab. Panjab ad Peshawar, Vicary! Multan, EdgeicortJi! "Salt range," 

 Fleming ! Beluchistan, Stocks ! Afghanistan, Griffith ! — (PI. vere.) {v. s.) 



DiSTRiB. Eegio Mediterranea ! et Caspica ! Asia Minor! Mesopo- 

 tamia ! Persia ! 



fferia procumbens, annua, glauca, spithamaea. Folia radicalia in lacinias an- 

 gustas bitripinnatisecta. Caules v. scapi 2-4, decumbentes v. ascendentes, teretes, 

 Ieevcs. Bractea verticillatse, ^l-poUi cares, lacerse. Flores pauci, pedieellati ; ala- 

 bastri nutantes, aurei, \ poU. lati. Sepala fugacia, late ovata v. ovato-lanceolata, 

 acuminata, petalis ^ breviora. Petala exteriora late obovato- v. cuneato-rhombea, 

 plus minusve sinuato-triloba, lobis lateralibus lineari-oblongis obtusis, intermedio 

 spathnlato, forma vaiia, oblonga, retusa v. bifida, marginibus fimbriate- v. sinuato- 

 dentatis. Antherce conneetivo plus minusve ultra locnlos producto ; filamenta dila- 

 tata. Stigma bicrure. Siliqua linearis, l-|-2-^ poll, longa, 2 lin. lata, utrinque at- 

 tenuata, compressa, spongiosa. Semina oblique obovata, arillo parvo instructa, testa 

 Itevi brnnnea. 



