CONTHTBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
171 
because of the want of a nectary, the different mode of inser- 
tion of the corolla, and a dissimilarity in the manner of junc- 
tion of its monadelphous stamens. But I have shown that 
in the true Styracea (excluding the Symplocacece) the ovary 
is always wholly superior, or partially superior in those excep- 
tional cases where, by a peculiar mode of growth, it becomes 
subsequently inferior : this partial immersion of the base of the 
ovary at an early stage, in Halesia, is probably owing to the 
existence of a disk (the rudiment of a nectary, as in Humiriacea;, 
or analogous to the disk in Olacacece), which is here adnate both 
to it and to the tube of the calyx. In O/acaceee we find in some 
cases a growth very analogous to that of Halesia, — in Sirombosia 
for instance, where the calyx, in like manner, is small and infe- 
rior, the ovary being surmounted and surrounded by a thick 
fleshy five-lobed disk which rises from the torus ; by the downward 
growth of the ovary, in a manner similar to that described in 
Halesia, the fruit becomes at length wholly inferior, and crowned / 
by the unchanged toothed margin of the previously inferior, now 
become superior, and adnate calyx*. In other cases in that 
family (in Olax for example), the calyx enlai’ges into a tubular 
form quite free from the fruit w'hich it encloses, as in Strigilia. 
There are many other points of structure which show the evident 
relationship of the Styraceee to the Olacacece. 
Dr. Asa Gray, in his ‘ Notes on Vavcea,’ very justly lays great 
stress upon the affinities of the Styracece and Meliacece, and ex- 
presses his surprise that this fact had not occurred to me. I had, 
however, clearly implied it by proposing to place the former 
order elose to the Olacacece and Humiriacece, among the Ciono- 
spermece, in which class, if adopted, the Meliacece would occupy a 
prominent position ; but, notwithstanding all that has been urged 
by the learned American Professor on this point, to which I readily 
accede, I still remain of opinion that the proximate alliance of 
the Styracece is with the Olacacece and Humiriacece rather than 
with the Meliacece. In the latter family,, the leaves are mostly 
of considerable length and pinnate ; the filaments of the stamens 
are united into a compact tube, in the mouth of which the 
anthers are usually quite free and sessile, and where the staminal 
tube is toothed or lobed, the anthers commonly alternate with 
the lobes •, the , seeds, too, are generally arillate, and frequently 
without albumen, with large fleshy cotyledons, within which the 
small radicle is retracted : the plants of this family are bitter 
and astringent, — characters all much at variance with the Sty- 
racece. On the other hand, in Olacacece and Humiriacece, the 
leaves are simj)le, the stamens quite free, or only laxly aggluti- 
nated at base : in the latter family, the filaments are broader and 
* Blume, Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. i. 251. pi. 46. 
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