176 Podostemacece. 



biloculares, ovatae vel oblongae, loculis oppositis, contiguis 

 vel connective) interposito sejunctis, saepius disparibus, longi- 

 tudinaliter dehiscentibus. Pollinis grannula globosa, vel 

 interdum oblonga ad medium constricta. Ovarium liber- 

 um, globosum vel ellipticum, 2-3-loculare, placentis e lo- 

 culorum angulo centrali late tumentibus. Ovula plurima, 

 adscendentia, orthotropa. Stylus subnullus : Stigmata 2-3, 

 integra vel bifida, decidua. Capsula costata, 2-3-locularis, 

 septicide dehiscens, 2-3»valvis, valvis placentas in colum- 

 nulum persistem coalitis nutantibus, aequalibus. Semina 

 plurima, minima, in placentae foveolis erecta, imbricata : 

 testa crassa, cellulosa, mucilaginosa, integumento interiore 

 membranaceo, bruneo. Albumen nullum. Embryo dicoty- 

 ledoneus, orthotropus, albus, cellulosus : cotyledonibus dua- 

 bus, piano, convexiusculis : radicula brevissima, umbilico 

 proxima, infera. Herbae aquaticce, submersce, plerumque 

 annua. Folia alter na,fasciculata vel approximata et imbri- 

 cata, in caule ramisque decurrentia et cum eo colliquescentia, 

 tenerrima, integerrima vel laciniata, laciniis plerumque capil- 

 laribus, stomatibus destituta. Stipulae nulla. Flores parvuli, 

 hermaphroditi vel abortu unisexuales, axillares vel termi- 

 nates, solitarii vel aggregati, distiche spicati vel subra- 

 cemosi. Spatha tubuloso-clavata, irregulariter rupta vel 

 sub-di-triphylla, florem solitarium primum subsessilem inclu- 

 dens, deinde flore in stipite plus minus longe elevato, pedicelli 

 basim vaginans. 



Lindley connects it with the lower Exogens through Piperacees, an order which 

 have some analogy with it, but, so far as 1 can see, but little affinity. I still consi- 

 der that the affinities of the order in this direction is better represented through 

 Nepenthacece. This order is now placed by Lindley in the Euphorbal alliance— 

 an association which is evidently forced upon him by the principles which have 

 guided him in the division of Exogens into sub-classes, viz. by following Jussieu 

 in separating them into two unequal masses, one of which is declinous and the 

 other hermaphrodite. This, which is doubtless a great improvement on the divi- 

 sion adopted in the last edition, necessarily gives rise to many forced unions, 

 of which the present is not the least glaring. No lineal arrangement of orders, 

 however, will ever be free from such defects. 



