532 T. Holm — Mollugo verticillata L. 



nearest allies to the Portidacece : sectio Molluginece. But 

 later on* Fenzl changed his views and transferred Tetragonia, 

 Aizoon and Galenia to the Portidacece, tribes Tetragoniece 

 and Aisoidece, leaving Mesembryanthemece intact. The segre- 

 gation of Mesembryanthemum evidently rests on good founda- 

 tion, but it seems unfortunate that the other genera should be 

 considered allies of the Portulacece ; it also seems more nat- 

 ural to keep Tetragonia and Aizoon in a family distinct from 

 Mollugo, as was first proposed by Fenzl. According to Eohr- 

 bach these genera might be referred to two families : Mollu- 

 ginacece and Ficoidacece,\ and he considered them as being 

 somewhat related to the Portulacece and Caryophyllece, beside 

 the PhytolaccacecB. As pointed out by Eichler,J this relation- 

 ship is much more natural than that supposed by Bentham and 

 r: ooker,§ who place them all as Ficoidece between Cactece and 

 TJmbelliferce, widely separated from the Caryophyllacece and 

 Portulacece. It seems altogether as if the position of Mollugo 

 is very difficult to define in the natural system ; it surely does 

 not belong to the same family as Tetragonia and Mesembry- 

 anlhemum, and especially not if we compare the internal 

 structure. It represents evidently a little family of its own, 

 allied in some respects to the Caryophyllece, but by no means 

 to the Cactece. 



Brookland, D. C, Feb. 1911. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGUEES (p. 526). 



Figure 1. Seedling of Mollugo verticillata L., showing the primary root 

 (E.), the hypocotyl (EL), the two cotyledons (Cot.), and three normal leaves 

 L ] -L 2 , of which L 1 and L 1 are opposite, while the other leaf opposite L 2 is 

 not visible ; magnified four times. 



Figure 2. One of the cotyledons ; x 6. 



Figure 3. A young plant with the cotyledons still attached, seen from 

 above, showing three pairs of opposite leaves [U-L 3 ), but of which the one 

 corresponding to L 3 is not visible ; S is the first bi'anch with a stretched 

 internode and a few leaves ; the other letters as above ; x 4. 



Figure 4. Part of a floral shoot : for explanation seethe text ; magnified 

 about three times. 



Figure 5. Cross-section of the stem. Ep. = epidermis ; C. = cortex ; End. 

 = endodermis; S.=stereomatic pericycle ; L.=leptome; Camb.= cambium ; 

 H. =hadrome ; P. =pith ; x 320. 



Figure 6. Cross-section of midrib of leaf, showing the large-celled par- 

 enchyma-sheath (P.), the leptome and the hadrome; x 320. 



Figure 7-8. Two lateral veins of the leaf, of which fig, 8 is from the 

 marginal ; P. =parenchyma-sheath ; x 320. 



Figure 9. Hair from the leaf ; x 320. 



* Ibidem, vol. ii, p. 279, 1839. 



t Martius Flora Brasil, Fasc. 56, 1872. 



| Bliithendiagramme, p. 119, Leipzig, 1878. 



§ Genera plantarum, vol. i, p. 51, London, 1862-1867. 



