49 
base upwards or revolute from the laminjB downwards, leaving a por- 
tion of the tube entire or open on oue side, the laminfe sometimes 
cohering long after the segments have separated lower down. 
Stamens 4, opposite the perianth segments and usually inserted on 
them, either with the filaments wholly adnate, leaving the anthers 
sessile at the base of the laminae, or the filament shortly free below 
the laminjB; or very rarely the stamens entirely free from the perianth. 
Anthers various, all perfect or rarely partially abortive, most fre- 
quently with 2 parallel cells adnate to aconneetivum continuous with the 
filament. Hypogynous or perigyuous glands or scales in many genera 4, 
alternating with the stamens, but in some genera variously united or 
reduced iu number or wholly deficient. Ovary 1-celled, sessile or 
stipitate, more or less excentrical, with a single terminal undivided 
style, variously shaped at the end, with a small terminal oblique or 
lateral stigma. Ovules either solitary or 2 collaterally attached or 
slightly sitperposed, or several imbricate iu 2 contiguous rows, either 
peiidulous and orthotropous or, more frequently, laterally attached 
and more or loss amphitropons, rarely erect and anatropous, the 
micropyle always inferior and frequently prominent from the incom- 
plete development of the primine. Fruit either an iiidehiscent nut or 
drupe, or a more or less dehiscent coriaceous or woody fojiele, very 
larely a completely 2-valved capsule; either 1-eelled and 1-seedod, or 
when 2 seeds are ripened iu a drupe sometimes really 2-ceiled from 
the growth of the endocarp between as well as round the seeds, or 
when 2 or more seeds ripen iu a follicle apparently 2 or more celled 
by the consolidation of the external coaiingof the two adjoining seeds 
into a membranous or woody plate detaching itself from the remainder 
of tlie seed. Seeds without albumen, the testa usually thin, rarely 
coriaceous or hard; embryo straight, with ileshy cotyledons and a 
short inferior radicle. Shrubs or trees, rarely undershrnbs or even 
perennial herbs. Leaves alternate or scattered, in a very few genera 
strictly opposite or verticillale, but oEten crowded under the iiifiores- 
cence so as to appear verticillale, usually coriaceous, often vertical 
with stomata on both sides, or in the same genera horizontal or narrow 
and terete, entire, tootlied, or variously divided, without stipules. 
Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or in racemes or spikes, often 
condensed into umbels, heads, or cones, each fiower or pair of flowers 
subtended by a bract, very deciduous in some genera and pex'haps 
sometimes really deficient, the pedicels always with bracteoles. 
Skkies T. ISirCAMENTACE.F. 
Eruit an indehiscent nut or drape. FloAvers usually solitary 
within each bract. 
Tribe 1. pROTEEiE.—Antliers all perfect, or very rarely the upper 
one abortive, with 2 parallel ceils adnate to the connectivum, inserted 
at the base of iho short spreading lamina' of the {)oriauth. Ovale 1, 
or rarely 2. Stigma terminal. Fruit a dry nut. Mvamples: l^rotea, 
iPeirophiJa, The first genus belongs to South Africa, and the honey 
of the flowers is collected by the farmers, who prepare from it, by 
inspissation, a delicious syrup, which is known as the “ Syrupus 
Protea?.” These South African plants do not, as a rule, thrive w'ell in 
D 
