COXTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
135 
1. ^Estivation of petals imbricate. 
A. Stamens outside disk. 
a. Ovules erect, with a ventral raphe, or sus- 
pended, with a dorsal raphe ; seed albumi- 
nous Celastracea . 
Ovules suspended * ; seed exalbuminous .... Chailletiacem. 
. B. Stamens inserted inside or upon disk Hippocratacece. 
C. Stamens hypogynous ; disk almost obsolete. 
at. Ovules suspended, with a dorsal raphe ; coty- 
ledons large in regard to radicle Aquifoliacea. 
Ovules suspended, with a ventral(?) raphe ; 
cotyledons small Cyrillacex. 
2. .Estivation of petals valvate 
A. Stamens inserted inside disk ; ovules erect Goupiacea. 
B. Stamens inserted outside disk; ovules suspended Icacinacea. 
I may here observe that an essential point in the development 
of the ovules and seeds in the several groups above enumerated 
is the relative position of the raphe. It has been shown that an 
erect ovule with a dorsal raphe is a mere resupination of a sus- 
pended ovule with a ventral raphe, and that a suspended ovule 
with a dorsal raphe is equivalent to an erect ovule with a ventral 
raphe, the former being a reversion of the ovule upon its funicle 
by the mere effect of pressure. These are distinctions of some 
value, which are generally neglected, but which ought always to 
be recorded. It will hence be seen that, although in one case 
the ovules are suspended and in the other erect, there is a nearer 
approximation in their development in the Icacinacea and Gou- 
piacea than the position of the raphe at first sight indicates. 
This circumstance and the valvate aestivation of the corolla bring 
them into close proximity ; but the insertion of the stamens in 
regard to the disk, the distantly separated styles, more numerous 
ovules and seeds, the nature of the seminal integuments, and 
other characters claim for the Goupiaceae a very distinct position. 
I offer here a more ample diagnosis of the genus under con- 
sideration founded on my own observations : — 
Goupia, Aubl. ; - — Gupia, Jaume St, -HU. ; — Glossopetalum, 
Schreb.-, — Calyx parvus, cupuliformis, 5-dentatus, dentibus 
acutis, aestivatione imbricatis. Petala 5, inter discum et caly- 
cem inserta, cum dentibus calycinis alterna, oblongo-linearia, 
apicibus longe attenuatis et inflexis, aestivatione e marginibus 
profunde introflexis valvata. Discus cupuliformis, calyce vix 
minor, inter petala et stamina enatus, omnino liber, glaber, 
dentibus 5 minimis remotis cum staminibus altemis margine 
instructus. Stamina 5, inter discum et ovarium inserta, cum 
petalis alterna, e basi erecta, omnino libera, discum paulo exce- 
* With a dorsal raphe, according to Agardh, Syst. 294. 
