CCVIIT. AEISTOLOCHIE^. 705 



the growth of the stem. Flowers $ : Perianth single (calyx), 4-partite ; lobes 

 sub-oval, hairy on the outside, pitted within, imbricate in aestivation, the 2 outer 

 somewhat the largest. Stamens united into a central column ; anthers about 16, 

 extrorse, united into a spherical head, with 2 apposed and contiguous cells, dehis- 

 cence longitudinal. Flowers ? : Perianth similar to that of i . Ovart free, 

 3-4-gonous, 3-4-celled, of 3-4 carpels opposite to the perianth- lobes ; stigma sessile, 

 discoid, obscurely 4-lobed, lohes answering to the septa ; ovules numerous, inserted 

 on the septa, many-seriate, ascending, anatropous. Capsule coriaceous, oblong, 

 truncate, crowned by the stigma, 4-celled, with 4 semi-septiferous valves. Seeds 

 elongate, fusiform, imbricate; testa membranous, loose, produced far beyond the 

 nucleus, tubular ; hilum lateral, near the base ; raphe filiform, free under the integu- 

 ment in the lower half, and united with it above the middle, and ending in a chalaza 

 which supports a globular nucleus ; albumen fleshy. Embryo straight, axile, sub- 

 cylindric, or fusiform ; cotyledons linear, plano-convex ; radicle short, inferior. 



ONLY GENUS. 

 Nepenthes. 



NepmthecB, which have some affinity with Ai-istolochiem (p. 708), differ in diclinism, tnonadelphism, 

 free ovary, loculicidal capsule, and especially by the petioles dilated into a pitcher.' They also offer 

 more than one analogy with BroseraeecB and Parnassiecs, while their leaves recall those of Sarracenia 

 (p. 214). 



Nepenthene are natives of swamps in [the Malay Islands, Australia, and New Caledonia] tropical 

 Asia, the Seychelle Islands, and Madagascar ; their seeds, often held in a loose cellular integument, 

 float at first on the surface of the water, which they imbibe by degrees, when they sink to the bottom to 

 germinate there. 



covin. ARISTOLOCHIEJE. 



(Aristolochi^, Adarhson. — ARiSTOLOOHiEiE, i7wcZZ*cAer.— Aristolochiace^, Lindl.— 



AsARiNE.*, Bartling.) 



Perianth single, superior, regular or irregular, usually colowred. Stamens 

 epigynous and gytiaridrous, inserted at the base of the style. Ovary inferior, several-celled 

 and ovuled ; ovules anatropous. Seeds albuminous. Embryo minute, basilar, axile. 



Herbaceous plants with creeping rhizomes, or tuberous, suffrutescent or 

 frutescent. Stem often twining, simple or branched, often thickened at the nodes ; 

 wood scented, sometimes without concentric zones and liber fibres. Leaves alter- 

 nate, simple, all green, or some scale-like and the others green, various in form, 

 usually cordate, penni- or pedati-nerved, veins reticulate ; petiole very often dilated 

 at the base and semi-amplexicaul, protecting the buds ; stipules 0, but sometimes 

 replaced by the axillary leaf (rarely 2) of an undeveloped branch. Flowers 3 , 

 axillary or terminal, solitary, rarely in a spike or cymose raceme, sometimes fur- 



> The pitcher is not the dilated petiole, but a special organ, represented by a gland at the top of the costa of the 

 young leaf. See Linn. Ti-ans., vol. xxii., p. 415.— Ed. 



