Podostemacece. 173 



No one has hitherto alluded to the resemblance which 

 exists between Podostemacea and Nepenthes, a resemblance 

 so great, that I am surprised it has been overlooked. If 

 we compare them carefully, we shall find that in both there 

 is a decided perigonium, for we must take Tristicha as the 

 type of Podostemacece, with an imbricated aestivation. It is 

 true, that the stamens in Nepenthes are united into a solid 

 column, but we must remember, that the flowers are unisex- 

 ual, and that in the nearly allied order Aristolochiacece, they 

 are usually free; nor must it be overlooked, that in Lacis 

 among Podostemacece, the stamens are monodelphous. This 

 moreover, could scarcely be considered even as a point of 

 ordinal distinction, for we find among Euphorbiacece, every 

 variety of union and separation among these organs. In 

 both Podostemacece and Nepenthes, we find a superior 

 several celled ovary, with numerous ascending ovules attach- 

 ed to the dissepiments, no style, and stigmata equal to the 

 number of cells in the ovary. The fruit in both is capsular^ 

 but the one has a loculicidal, and the other a septicidal, 

 dehiscence. In both, the seeds are numerous, ascending, 

 and imbricated. In both, the testa is membraneous, but in 

 Nepenthes, the embryo is albuminous, while in Podoste- 

 macece it is exalbuminous. In both the embryo is decoty- 

 ledonous, orthotropous, and with the radical directed to- 

 wards the hilum. From this comparison, we find that the 

 absence of albumen, and the difference in the connection of 

 the stamens, are what principally distinguish Podostemacece 

 from Nepenthacece, It will thus form the exalbuminous 

 group of Lindley's second series of Homogens. 



With Aristolochiacece, Podostemacece has also several 

 points in common, as, indeed, might be expected from the 

 near relation, which the former order bears to Nepenthacece 



Lindley has alluded to a resemblance, which he conceives 

 to exist between Podostemacece and Lacisiemacece ; a resem- 

 blance which is no doubt great, but not nearly so much so 



