1840.] 



Wight's Illustrations of Indian Botany. 



38i 



the vegetable kingdom. All, therefore, that can be looked for, are well 

 constructed and correctly defined orders or provinces, the boundaries 

 of which should be as clearly marked out as the nature of the subjects 

 will permit. Then comes the arrangement of these, in such a manner as 

 to facilitate reference, or, to follow out the simile of kingdoms and pro- 

 vinces, to teach under what latitude and longitude we must look, first for 

 the province (the natural order), and then for the town (the genus), to 

 which the subject of our enquiry (the species) belongs. Various 

 plans have been tr'-^d for the attainment of this desideratum, but no one 

 seems yet to have obtained such general favour as the one the ground 

 work of which T have sketched, even though liable to such striking de- 

 fects as those 1 have indicated. But to proceed. 



I. " THALAMiFLORiE.--This sub-class includes all the plants origi- 

 nally referred by Jussieu to his 13th class (PolypetaliB hypogense), those, 

 namely, with hypogynous or inferior flowers, and several petals; or which 

 has more recently received the name of Hypopetalee, that is, petals in= 

 ferior to the pistil or ovary. This is a large class, presenting m.any 

 anomalies ; but, upon the whole, generally of sufficiently easy applica- 

 tion in practice. 



II. " Calyciflorje. — This sab-class is more difficult, and often nob 

 easily distinguished from either the preceding or the succeeding one. 

 It is divided into six sections. 



1. " PeripetalcB, with several distinct petals inserted on the calyx 

 towards its base, leaving the ovary superior or free — Leguminosce, 

 section PotentillecB of Rosacecs, and Salicariecs, all afford easily under- 

 stood examples of this section. 



2. EpipeialcB, — In this section the tube of the calyx is prolonged 

 and lined by the torus, A\hich forms a small disk on the summit of the 

 ovary, and the ovary is enclosed by and coheres with the calyx tube : the 

 distinct petals and stamens are inserted on the outside of the disk. The 

 ovary is here said to be inferior or adherent, and the flower superior, 

 RosecB, Pomecs and CombreiacecB, apparently aflTord examples of this 

 section, but want the disk on the summit of the ovary. UmbcUifercB^ 

 Araliacece and Corneao, are the only orders referred here as being truly 

 epipetalous. 



3. " Ep'icorallcB Corisanlherce ; this section differs from the last in 

 having the petals united, forming a monopetalous corolla, bearing the 

 stamens inserted on its tube, and the anthers not cohering round the 

 style. The common honey-suckle is a familiar example of tliis section j 

 to which also the elder, the coffee, valerian, &c., that is the orders 

 Caprifoliacece, RiMacecB, Valerlanece, &c. belong. 



