THE CERATOPHYLLINAL DIVISION. 



27 



Gentianace^e. 



It is well known that Villavsia nymphmoides agrees remarkably with the Nymphaacecz in habit, and it has also to some extent their sessile spreading stigma ; Frasera is scarcely monopetalous 

 while Barclaya is decidedly so ; and although Gentianacecs are widely separated from a part of their nearest affinities in this Table, yet in Table VII. this distance nearly disappears as they take their 

 place close to Apocynacece. When it first occurred to me that Gentianaceae might be a monopetalous form of Nymphaeacese and their allies, the proposition appeared to be very theoretical, but 

 further comparisons now give it to some extent a practical form, as the 5-spurred corolla of Aquilegium occurs in Halenia* (Sir W. Hooker's Fl. Bor. Amer. PI. 155 & 156), the only two genera in 

 which this character is known to occur. 



Nelumbiace^;. 



Nelumbium agrees with Ceratophyllum in its whorled leaves, those of the former being three in a whorl, two of which are only scales ; f in the ovule being pendulous from the apex of 

 a funiculus adherent to the wall of the ovary ; and in the embryo having a large plumule and a very shtfrt radicle. Since my notice of the ovary of Nelumbium (Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 2, vol. XII., 

 p. 11), I have never met with any explanation that removed the difficulty as regards the position of the umbilicus and canal which are external to the style and stigma, i.e., on the wall of the outer 

 side of the ovary directed towards the stamens, and are also distinctly visible in the fruit, and up to the present time it has appeared to me an anomaly which could not well be accounted for. 

 M. Baillon's recent discovery of small flowers and single naked carpels bearing ovules occupying the place of ovules in the ovaries of Sinapis arvensis (Adansonia, 1862 — 63, PI. XII, figs. 8 & 9), 

 offers however a satisfactory explanation and the only probable one, and I now therefore regard the disk as a mass of barren carpels, each producing one female flower at its base having its 

 back turned towards the axis of the fruit. As thus understood Nelumbium agrees with Ceratophyllum in the carpel being posterior and the ovule pendulous from a funiculus adhering to its dorsal 

 rib, v. Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 2, vol. XII., PI. III., figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5. In all the NymphcEacece and Hydropeltidece the placentation is dorsal, so that in this character Nelumbium would differ from its 

 nearest allies, unless this proposition is correct, because the funiculus is attached to the inner or axial side of the ovary. 



Nepenthace^e. 



The position of Nepenthes I regard as being between Cephalotem and Sarraceniacece on the one hand and Francoacece on the other. Dr. Seemann, who is so very correct as regards affinities, 

 is convinced that it is near Droseracece, to which he states it is allied in the greater part of its characters, among which he particularly notices the circinate vernation of the leaves, and he 

 consequently would admit its relation to Francoacece as the latter are conterminous with that family. 



This position will, I believe, satisfactorily account for all the peculiarities of its structure. In its numerous spiral vessels it may be compared to Nelumbium, being connected with that genus 

 through Ranunculacece. Its pitchers may be compared to those of Sarracenia and Cephalotus, and there may be also a tendency to assume the singular leaf of Nepenthes in Caltha dionmmjoha, 

 (Fl. Antarctic. Part II., PI. LXXXIV.,) the two serrated plates on the upper side of the leaf, at the base of the lamina, being perhaps analogous to the two serrated wings on the pitcher of Nepenthes. 

 In its calyx, consisting of four sepals, its agrees with Francoacece, and the large glands almost covering its base are, I believe, a reduced form of the fleshy disk covered with stalked glands occurring 

 in Cephalotus. In its monadelphous stamens it may perhaps be compared to Lardizabalece, Schizandracece and Mijristicacece, being connected with them through Ranunculacece, but this character is 

 so general as scarcely to call for an explanation. Its ovary agrees with that of Francoacece in being 4-celled, and although the stigmas are not alternate with the cells as in that family, yet they are 

 deeply bifid, and so far combined together (in at least one species) as to make the stigma appear 8-lobed, so that if the stigmas were rather more deeply divided they would consist of four bifid lobes 

 alternate with the cells ; and in this character it may also be compared to Drosera, which has deeply bifid stigmas. It occasionally shows a tendency to become polycarpous, by the production of 



* Halenia has a 4-parted corolla with four large spurs. 



t These are quite distinct from the fully developed leaf which has intra-axillary connate stipules ; they show a tendency to be alternate by the margin of one overlapping the other. The internodes are quite smooth, and of considerable 



length. 



