4 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
tion of Ajitandra in the system is not easily determinable. At 
first view, from the very peculiar structure of the stamens, it 
seems to approach Cissampelos, but independently of other cir- 
cumstances, one fact, that of a simple biovular ovarium, at once 
excludes it from the Menispermacece. 
The several families included in the Columnifera of Endlicher, 
viz. Sterculiacece, Biittneriacece, &c., present the analogy of their 
filaments being more or less coherent at base into a hypogynous 
tube ; but there, a portion of the filaments is always free, as are 
also the anthers, which are very differently constructed, besides 
which, the ovarium consists of numerous carpels, united round 
a central axis, upon which ovules more or less numerous are 
attached by their ventral face ; there also, for the most part, the 
corolla has a torsive or imbricated sestivation, and in their general 
habit they do not agree. 
In like manner, the Meliacece present stamens, formed of a 
cylindrical tube, but this is many-toothed at its apex, and the 
2-celled anthers, double the number of the petals, are quite di- 
stinct, affixed within the mouth of the tube, and burst introrsely 
by longitudinal fissures. They have also a free calyx, but its 
segments are distinct and imbricated. The corolla consists of 
four or five petals, sometimes valvate in sestivation, though often 
imbricated, but they have no indication of any such petaloid 
scales as are seen in Aptandra. The ovarium is frequently sti- 
pitate, but most generally is imbedded at base in a fleshy cup ; 
it is plurilocular, with two or more ovules in each cell. The 
style is simple and the stigma clavate. Here are therefore some 
few points of resemblance, while others are again at variance 
with Aptandra, the general habit of which does not at all con- 
form with the Meliacece, which, for the most part, have pinnated 
or bipinnated, and often dentated leaves. 
In the Humiriacece we do not find any satisfactory analogies, 
for although the stamens there are partly monadelphous, or 
rather polyadelphous at base, and the anthers have a large fleshy 
connective, there is nothing approximative in the structure of 
these organs to what we find in Aptandra. The calyx consists 
of distinct sepals, which are decidedly imbricate, and the petals 
have a twisted, imbricated, and almost convolute aestivation : 
the nectary is tubular, investing the base of the ovarium, is thin 
and membranaceous, and is interior with respect to the staminal 
tube, and bears no analogy with the petaloid scales of the genus 
under consideration. The ovarium is 5-celled, with two super- 
imposed ovules in each cell, attached to a central point of an 
axile column, which point enlarges to form a transverse spurious 
dissepiment across each cell ; and finally, their leaves are very 
thick and coriaceous. 
