Muhlcnbechia .] 
CIII. POLYGONACEiE. 
1277 
Perianth rather above 1 line long. Style 3-branchecl, 'with broad peltate terminal 
stigmas more like those of a Polygonum than of a Muhlenbeclcia , but the flowers 
quite dioecious. Nut prominently 3-angled, smooth and shining, enclosed in the 
ovoid slightly thickened perianth which is enlarged to from 14 to 2 lines in 
length. Seed scarcely furrowed . — Polygonum Cunninghamii, Meissn. in Linnsea, 
xxvi. 364, and in DC. Prod. xiv. 85 ; Muhlenbeckia Jiorulenta, Meissn. in Linnasa, 
xxvi. 362 ; Polygonum junceum, A. Cunn. ; Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 85. 
Hab : Rockhampton, O'Shanesy; Suttor River, Bowman; Bokhara Creek, Leichhardt; 
Curriwillinghie, Dalton ; Darling Downs, Lau. Common in most inland swamps. 
Order CIV. PODOSTEMONACE^E. 
Flowers 1 -sexual, rarely dioecious, usually enclosed in a spathe. Perianth 
none or membranous, lobed or partite or of a few scales. Stamens definite or 
not, free or connate, hypogynous or perigynous, filaments flat ; anthers 2-lobed. 
Ovary free, sessile or stalked, smooth or ribbed, 1 to 2-celled ; styles 2, 3, or 1, 
and columnar, stigma 1 capitate, or 2 to 3, simple toothed or laciniate ; ovules 
many, anatropous, axile or parietal. Capsule 1 to 3-celled ; septicidal or 
septifragal, valves 2 to 3. Seeds minute, testa mucilaginous, albumen none. 
Embryo straight, cotyledons 2, radicle inferior. — Aquatics growing on stones in 
tropical streams, annual or perennial. Stems branching with leaves or with 
these confluent into amorphous fronds. Inflorescence various, often of a 1 or 
many flowered scape, naked or arising from a tubular sheath. — Hook. FI. 
Brit. Iml. 
Baron von Mueller records in Cen. Austr. PI. that plants of this Order have been met with 
in Queensland but that the genera and species had not been determined. The authority rests 
so far as at present known upon specimens collected by Mr. Walter Hill at the Johnstone River 
in 1873. 
Order CV. NEPENTHACE^. 
Flowers dioecious. Male perianth of 4 rarely 3 sepal-like segments, imbri- 
cate in the bud. Stamens 4 to 16, the filaments united in a central column ; 
anthers united in a head, in 1 or 3 rows, 2-celled, the cells opening out- 
wards in longitudinal slits. Female perianth as in the males, or rarely the 
segments united at the base. Ovary 4- rarely 3-angled, with as many cells 
as angles, the carpels opposite the perianth-segments ; stigma sessile, with as 
many lobes as ovary-cells, the lobes entire or bifid. Ovules very numerous 
in each cell, attached to a placenta inserted on the dissepiment, ascending 
and anatropous. Capsules coriaceous, opening loeulicidally in 4 rarely 3 
valves. Seeds very numerous, imbricated upwards ; testa membranous, pro- 
duced at each end into a capillary point or tail. Embryo straight, in the 
axis of a fleshy albumen ; cotyledons linear ; radicle short, inferior. — Shrubs 
or undershrubs with herbaceous branches, glabrous or sparingly hairy, replete 
with spiral vessels, the stems prostrate sarmentose or climbing by means of 
tendrils terminating the leaves. Leaves alternate, elongated, without stipules, 
the base on the winged petiole clasping the stem, marked with a few nearly 
parallel longitudinal veins and numerous transverse veinlets, the midrib usually 
produced either into a tendril or into a pendulous pitcher provided with an oper- 
culum or lid, the margin of the orifice thickened into a peristome, and having 
usually an external spur on the back. Flowers small, green, in terminal 
racemes or panicles. 
The Order limited to tbe single genus Nepenthes, is spread over Southern Asia and the islands 
of the Indian and South Pacific Oceans, but most abundant in the Indian Archipelago. 
