CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
145 
the latter genus the corolla is very deciduous, and its opercular 
calyx at the period of gestivation falls off by a circumscissile line, 
— a chai’acter approximating to the seemingly achlamydeous 
flowers of Trochodendron. ■ — 
On a new species of Lardizabala, and on the Structure 
OF the Seed in that genus. 
The structure and affinities of the genera of the Lardizabalacea 
were scarcely known before the publication of the excellent 
monograph of M. Decaisne above twenty years ago, when the 
family was first established. Since that time little has been 
added to our knowledge of the order, except the interesting 
remarks of the authors of the ‘ Flora Indica,’ who have described 
the Asiatic species, and have added a new and remarkable genus, 
which they have gracefully dedicated to the very eminent bota- 
nist before mentioned, the type being the Decaisnea insignis, a 
native of the Himalayas. M. Decaisne considered the family to 
be intermediate between Schizandracece and Berberidacece •, and 
Prof. Lindley indicated its nearer affinity with theMenispermacea, 
at the head of which order it had long previously been placed as 
a distinct tribe by DeCandolle [Lardizabalece, Prodr. i. 95). In 
my memoir upon the Winteracea I have pointed out the inti- 
mate relationship existing between those two families. 
It has been generally understood that the numerous ovules 
in the ovaries of the Lardizabalacece are scattered indiscriminately 
over the whole internal surface of the cell ; but Drs. Hooker 
and Thomson show that in Decaisnea the ovules are confined to 
two regular lines of placentation, which they notice as an excep- 
tional case, contrary to the condition which has been considered 
the chief characteristic of the order. In Lardizabala, a genus 
belonging exclusively to Chile, I have found that the ovules, in 
a similar manner, originate in six distinct parallel parietal pla- 
centae, running from the base to the apex ; and in the fruit, the 
seeds are likewise arranged in as many parietal lines. The 
distinguished botanists just mentioned also state that in Decaisnea 
the ripe fruit is filled with a cellular pulp, which is developed 
from the whole surface of the growing wall of the pericarp, thus 
forming a complete homogeneous mass, without leaving any 
cavity; and although this pulp firmly embraces the seeds, they 
observed no real adhesion except at the hilum, where there is a 
broad organic attachment between it and the external tunic ; 
vessels originating fi’om all parts of the surface of the pericarp 
ramify through the pulp, but do not meet in the axis of the 
fruit. A very similar development exists in Lardizabala, where 
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