CHAP. II. 
OF DESCRIPTIONS. 
517 
Descriptions, it must be observed, are of two kinds, collec- 
tive and specific : the former explaining minutely the cha- 
racters common to several species, as in an order or a genus ; 
the latter, the character of one species only. The difference 
between these two, and the manner of applying each of them, 
will be best understood by the following examples. 
The following mode of fully describing an order is taken 
from Adolphe Brongniart’s excellent memoir on Rham- 
NEiE : 
Calyx monophyllus 4-5-fidus, externe saepius villosus. 
Tubus expansus subplanus, hemisphaericus, urceolatus, cam- 
panulatus vel subcylindricus, liber, vel inferius ovario adnatus, 
vel cum eo omnino cohaerens ; interius nudus, vel in pluribus 
disco carnoso aut fauci limitato, aut in laciniis effuso, tectus. 
Laciniae ovatae, triangulares, rarius subulatae, acutae, interius 
subcarnosae, in pluribus in media linea carnosa prominente 
notatae, et apice callosas; in praefloratione valvatim applicatac. 
“ Petala cum calycis laciniis alternantia, ej usque fauci in- 
serta, saepius sub margine disci affixa, unguiculata, ungue 
plus minusve longo. Laminae rarius patentes, planae, supe- 
riiis integrae vel emarginatae, in plerisque concavae, convolutae 
vel cucullatae, stamina vel eorum filamenta involventes, in 
pluribus nullae. Praefloratio complicata. 
“ Stamina petalis opposita. Filamenta calycis fauci vel 
margin! disci inserta, et cum unguibus petalorum basi saepius 
cohaerentia, laciniis calycis breviora. Antherce in petalis 
cucullatis reconditae, vel e petalis convolutis exsertae, parte 
media vel inferior! dorsi ad apicem filament! affixae, versatiles, 
introrsae (rarissime extrorsae) ; vel ovatae, biloculares, loculis 
parallelis, aut basi divergentibus, rima longitudinal! dehiscen- 
tibus; vel reniformes, uniloculares (loculis superius confluen- 
tibus), rima simplici arcuata bivalvim hiantes. Pollen siccum 
ellipticum, sulco secundum longitudinem notatum ; madefac- 
tum sphaericum, laeve, vel trimamillosum. 
‘‘ Dz5cm 5 forma maxime varians, in parvus, fundumque 
tubi calycis occupans ; in plerisque tubum calycis strato plus 
minusve crasso tegens ej usque formam accipiens (in Zizypho, 
Paliuro, Ventilagine^ Hovenid, Coluhrind^ subplanus, penta- 
gonus, angulis ad insertionem staminum emarginatis ; in 
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