THE PLATANO-PEOTEAL DIVISION. 



Dr. Lindley, that it may be compared with Jasminaeem. With the Oleacem it agrees in its racemous inflorescence, the branches of which are flattened immediately beneath each pair of flowers ; 

 but, however nearly it may approach the monopetalous families, I think it must belong to the polypetalous series, because in S. persica there are four gland s alternate the stamens, which most 

 probably are barren stamens, and the stigma is sessile ; besides which in S. Wightiana the leaves are strongly marked with very numerous pellucid dots, as in Rutacea and their allies.* 



ICACINACEJE. 



The ovary of Pennantia consists of only three carpels, as is shown by the three very distinct stigmas, one of which is the fertile, and is in nearly all the flowers I have examined somewhat 

 depressed ; — the ovary is one-celled, two of the carpels being abortive, and the ovule single and pendulous, having a more than usually well-marked dorsal raphe. This is precisely the structure of 

 Smodingium which has three stigmas, the depressed one always indicating the dorsum of the carpel, and in which the raphe is at once obvious. As Smodingium has a small quantity of albumen, 

 I would suggest that the only difference between Icacinacece and Anacardiacece consists in the quantity of albumen, as the ovary of the latter consists of from one to five carpels, in common with that 

 of the former.f May not the stigma of Cardiopteris be an analogous structure ? The fibrils that surround the anther in Lasianthera appear much like the cup-like connective of Sabia (which 

 occurs in one or more of the species but not in all) and the branched filament of Meliosma, and Cassinopsis in its inflorescence has the peculiar habit of Hypelate. 



SAPINDACEiE. 



Having had an opportunity of seeing a Stackhousia in flower, the corolla proved on careful examination to be irregular, the anterior petal being obviously not so long as the two posterior, 

 nor yet so long as the two lateral, so that in a longitudinal or perpendicular section the mouth of the corolla is very oblique. The two posterior petals being erect have something of the appearance 

 of an upper lip, and the two lateral, slightly turning up at their ends, leaves the lower one separated. The stamens correspond in their irregularity with the corolla, one of the two shorter of the 

 five (and which is probably the shortest) being posterior, and the other short one being one of the two anterior. As the corolla in S. pubescens and jancea is polypetalous at the base, and the petals 

 are so separated that the filaments of the stamens are inserted in vacant spaces between them, this genus might be referred to Melianthem, were it not for the stamens attached to the edge of the disk 

 and its very different habit. It agrees, however, in the flowers being in dense spikes, and its anthers are much like those of Melianthus, and the attachment of the filaments to the edge of the disk 

 I believe to be no objection to this comparison, because the filaments may be without difficulty torn up, so as to make them artificially hypogynous and internal to the disk; in a flower of 

 S. pubescens, I have succeeded in raising all the five filaments. This may explain why the filaments remain permanent and require to be torn off to remove them, while the corolla, being articulated 

 at the edge of the disk, readily falls off. J 



Platanace^. 



I regard Platanus as differing from Proteacea only in the stamens being alternate the sepals, the ovule orthotropal and the seed containing a small quantity of albumen. The ovary of Platanus 

 consists of from two to six or eight distinct carpels, and in Proteacece when two are present they are distinct, and the radicle in both cases is inferior. Broad-leaved Protectees are not unlike 

 Platanus in habit. Platanus is also very near Aceracece. (V. Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser, 3, vol. I., p. 102.) 



* In S. Wightiana these stand out both from the upper and under surface of the leaves ; — S. Kcenigii has also dotted leaves but not so strongly marked, 

 f In Apodytes the ovary has all the appearance of consisting of a single carpel, the stigma being quite simple, contracted at the apex and unilateral. 



% S.juncea is remarkable for having a singular kind of defective flower, irregularly mixed with the fertile, the petals are wanting, the filaments are anantherous, the ovary has no cavity, and the style is wanting It is a* very close 

 approach to the dimorphous flowers of Malpighiacece. 



