.mo:nocot\lj:dojsous ok endogenous plants. 553 



oblong, fixed neiir the base, introrse ; ovary globose, 3-cell- 

 ed, with six unatropous ovules in each cell; styles 3, slen- 

 der, recurved, stigmatic within; herry globose. 



M. ViRGixiCA, L. Rliizoma horizontal, tuberous; stem 

 simple, slender, clothed with loose deciduous wool, bracted 

 below, bearing above the middle a whorl of 6-8 oblong- 

 lanceolate acute leaves, and at the summit a smaller whorl 

 of 3-4 ovate leaves, which surround the 2-8 small greenish 

 jioMmg flo'wers ; styles XQ^» Shady banks. June. Stem 

 2° high. 



142. KOXBUKGHIA FAMILY. Order, RoxBURGHiACEiE. 



Herls or twining sliruhs, with petioled parallel-nerved 

 reticulated leaves, ^wdi perfect axillary racemose /o?6Tr.? / 

 2)erianth 4-leaved or 4-parted; stamens 4, hypogynous; 

 anthers 2-celled, introrse; ovary free, or united with the 

 base of tlie perianth, 1-celled ; stigma sessile ; ovules few or 

 numerous, anatropous ; ])lacenta parietal ; capsule 2-val ved ; 

 seeds fixed to hairy or fibrillous cords, erect or pendulous; 

 embryo minute or slender, in fleshy albumen. 



CROOMIA, Torr. 



Perianth deeply 4-parted, persistent, the spreading nerve- 

 less oval divisions imbricated in the hxxi^i', filaments sepa- 

 rate, thick, erect, inserted on the base of the perianth 

 opposite its lobes; anthers short, oblique, with the con- 

 nective minute or wanting; ovary globose-ovate, sessile; 

 stigma 2-lobed ; ovules 4-G ; fruit follicular, beak-pointed, 

 at length 2-valved; seeds 1-4, obovate, suspended from the 

 apex of the nerve-like at length free placenta, nearly cov- 

 ered by the fibers of the cord; embryo minute, obovate. — 

 xY low perennial herb, from a slender creeping rhizoma ; 

 stem simple, sheathed at the base, leafy at the summit; 

 leaves 4-6, alternate, oblong-cordate, 5-9-ribbed ; pedimcles 



24 



