NATURAL AKUANGEMENT. 



407 



Pare^ra ; and the fArnoui Columbo root, to much e«teeine«l for lu inteiuc bitterncu, and for iu uie in diarrhwa 

 " dysentery, in the produce of the Cocculu* (lalmfttuaL I'he itolAonoiu drujf l alled ( octulu* indicui in tho 



Scveial Brazilian ipectea of Conului and 



■hop* i« the »eo<l of a «|>eciea of C'6fculu«, probablv tiil>crr>«ui 

 CiuinapeloR are naid to p<>*«eii« |X)werful fet>rifuKal pro|«rtiea. 

 Europe; they are chiefly natives of tropical America and A»ia. 



15. Tribe 1. MHMHPK'RMeJi. 

 Ug. 4. herb. 0. J 4 feet. 

 S788 Cocculua Bauh. 

 8789 Coflcinium Col. 



'iTftU TUiacura C oL 

 llVW Wendl.in.ha VV. 



('i»sim|ielo« L. 

 i»0«J Meiiitpi rnium /,. 



No tpecies of Menia|>crmkccc Lh found 

 Cuttings. 



2807 Abut a Aub 



in. Tril)o2. Schiza'.m)ke.c. 

 2C'2j Schizandra Mx. 



17. OroirVI. BERBERI'DEiE. 



Genera 7, Species 33; Hot -house Species 0; (irern.fiouse Species 10 ; Ilartly Ugneous Species Of) ; 

 Hardy Herbaceous Species 3. f .J;jjfeet ; ]f 2 feet; > feet. 

 With the exception of Berberis this order d(K'» not contain any genus of much interest ; most of the other* 

 are low, inconspicuous, lierbaceou* plants; Naiidina i* an elegant Ja|>anet>c shrub. The Berberise* arc all 

 •hrubs of much beauty and intere«t, ea|H'cially the 8|tecie« with ninnated leaves, which are *ometimes called 

 Mahonias. These are all inhabitants either of Euro|>o, Asia, or North and .South America; none have ever 

 been seen in Africa or New South Wales. M;iny ot the finest species from C hile and India yet remain to lie 

 introduced. The berries of the Herberises are acid and astringent; the latter quality i* esiiecially abundant 

 in the stem and bark. Cuttings, layers, division, and seeds. 



Vm Berberis I.. •!!) I lOSi] /.e6ntice | .I'M) /Tpim-Mium A. •! 



1091 Mahbnm Nut. 1 1087 CaulojihJ Hum Mx. I 10.S8 I)ipliyll»>ia Mx. 1 



lOttf Nandina Thun. I | 



18. OkberVII. PODOPHYLL.VCE.E. 

 Genera 2, Species 2 ; Hot-house Species ; Green-hmise Species ; Hiirdi/ /.igneous Species ; 

 Hardy Herbaceous Species 2. { feet; ]g 1| feet. fuqt. 



Little, interesting, herbaceous North American plants, nearly related on the one hand to Nymplia?drc.T, and 

 on the other to the herbaceous genera of Berberidcx. Their juice is held to be purgative. Division. 



1348 Podophyllum L. 1 | 1178 Jcffersbnia Bart 1 



19. OrdkrVIH. HYDKOPELTI'DE.'E. 

 Gentis 1, Species 1 ; Hot-house Species 0; Green-house Species \ ; Hardy Ligneous Species ; 

 Hardy Herbaceous Species 0. f feet ; £ feet ; ^ feet. 



This order differs from Nymphse&cejc chiefly in h.iving a definite number of seeds. It consists of only two 

 enera, each containing a single species. Both are little floating plants of tropical and northern America. 

 fo>hing is known of their properties. Division or offsets. 



1644 Hydropdltis L. 



20. Order IX. NYMPH.llA^CE.f:. 



Genera 4, Species 31 ; Hot-house Species 19 ; Green-house Species ; Hardy Ligneous S^vcies ; 

 Hardy Herbaceous Species 12. JO feet; feet; ^3Jfu 



Like the last, these are all floating plants, and, to gardeners, possessed of great interest, on account of the 

 ele;^■\nt form and various hues of their flowers. Three species are known as the lilies of our own streams and 

 ponds, and the remainder occupy similar stations in other countries. Some of the Indian species of A ympha?^ 

 are delightfully fragrant. The holy Cyamus, or Pythagorean bean of antiquity, is the produce of the .Vt76wi- 

 6ium, a stately aquatic, which abounds in all the hotter countries of the l^t, where its roots are frequently 

 used as an article of food The ditches, about Pekin and other Chinese cities, arc literally choaked up with 

 Its abundance The pericarpia or beans are oblong, hard, smooth bodies, and possess the power of vegetating 

 after having been dried for even thirty years. The flowers and roots of the common white A'ymphje^a have 

 been long celobratetl for their sedative and antiaphrodisiacal qualities, which are, however, now considere<l 

 doubtful. In Sweden, in years of scarcity, the roots of iVuphar liitca are pounded into cakes along with the 

 inner hark of Phms sylvcstris. 



This order has been the cause of much difference among botanists, as to its true station in a natural classifi- 

 cation, its structure being of so doubtful a character as to leave room for disputing whether it l)elongs to 

 Dicotyk'dones or MonocotyU'doiies. Upon this subject M. Decandolle has the following remarks : — " (ia-rtner 

 declares that the embryo is undivided, and therefore monocotyletlonous. In 1802, I remarked in the Bulletin 

 Philoniathique that the emljryo both of iVymphaj'a and A'iipha'r is enclosetl in a peculiar integument, and that 

 a dicotyledonous structure is apparent when that integument is removed ; shortly after, M. Mirbel declared 

 that the embryo of Sc/umbiutn has two thick cotyledons ; in 1806, M. Turpin gave an accurate description of 

 the fruit of Neli'iiiibiuin Kitcum, without however removing the doubts about the real structure of the embryo, 

 and two years afterwards his colleague, M. Poiteau, described the seed and germination of the same plant, 

 pointing out that the embryo consisted of two thick cotyledons enclosetl within a stipular membrane, but 

 destitute of radicula : this was subsequently confirmed by M. Mirbel after very minute anatomical examina- 

 tion ; that observer compared the seed of Ncliinibiiini to the seed of .-/mygdalus, and al.'^o to that of Piper 

 and Saururus, and also demonstrated that the structure of the stem was analogous to that of exogenous or 

 dicotyledonous plants. A very different opinion was shortly afterwards held by M t orrea de Serra, an observer 

 of th^ highest order, who admitted indeed that NympluxJlcea; are exogenous, but contended that the jiarts 

 which had been taken by previous observers for cotyledons were, in fact, a mere expansion of the radicle, and 

 that cotyledons were as entirely absent in Xelftinbiuin as in Cuscutn. In the meanwhile M. ile Jussieu 

 adhered to the oKl opinion, that Nym|)hie\ceie arc monocolyletlonous ; in which he was supported by the late 

 Professor Louis Claude Richard, a name for ever memorable in the annals of Carpology, who published a new 

 view of their structure, in which he differed materially from all his predecessors j this botanist consiileretl the 

 stipulary membrane of Poiteau a simple cotyledon, and the cotyledons of that writer the hypoblastus, or body 



the radicula ; he also refused to admit any evidence derived from the anatomical structure of the stem. In 

 this conflict of opinions, I have determined to station Nymphaflcen? among Exi'.genes, for the following 

 reasons : 1st, because the structure of their stem is that of Ex.'igenes rather than of End6genes ; Stily, because 

 the two opposite bo<lies, enclosed within the little bag or stipulary membrane, described by Poiteau, «pi>ear to 

 be undoubtedly cotyleilons, which is confirmed by the presence of a plunuila between them in Selumhium ; 

 3dly, because of the structure of their flower, which has a great allinity with that of /'a-ftn/Vi, Magni)W<j, and 

 Papkver; 4thly, on account of the similarity between their fruit and stigma and that of /'apAver ; .Ithly, 

 because of their milky juice and convolute leaves, two characters which are not known to exist among Kndo. 

 genes." Those who are interested in pursuing this curious discussion any farther, will find many remarks and 

 Illustrative figures in the English i-dition of the Analyse du Fruit, published by Mr. Lindley in ISJ'.i. Seed* 

 and division. 



K k 



