87 
From these plants Von Martins distinguishes (Cow5j!7ec^«5, no. 207, 1 835), as 
the type of an order to be called 
KRAMERIACE^, 
The genus Krameria to which reference has been already made. Of thi« 
remarkable plant, usually placed in Polygalacese, Auguste de St. Hilaire and 
Moquin-Tandon give the following character : — ' 
Krameria. — Sepals 3-4, irregular, much spreading, coloured, deciduous, arranged in 
2 or 3 rows, one of them, if it is present, superior, solitary, very small. Petals 5 (some- 
times 4, Kunth) , hypogynous, smaller than the calyx, irregular ; the three lower alternating 
with one exterior sepal, two intermediate, and a minute superior one, long, unguiculate ; 
the claws united at the base, occasionally with a small abortive lamina ; the two upper 
alternating with one external sepal and two intermediate ones, much smaller than the 
lower petals, remote from them, converging obliquely, sessile, rather thick. Stamens 4 
(sometimes 1 or 3, Kunth), hypogynous, unequal; two larger, ascending, alternating with 
the upper and lower petals, 2 smaller erect, close together, alternating with the lower 
intermediate petal ; filaments free, thick ; anthers continuous, immoveable, 2 -celled, opening 
at the end by a double pore. Disk 0. Ovary superior, 2-celled (incompletely 2-celled, 
Kunth), two seeded ; ovules 2, suspended from a little below the top of the cavity, turned 
away from the lower petals. Style single, terminal, ascending, awl-shaped. Stigma ter- 
minal, simple. Fruit between woody and leathery, globose, glochidate, by abortion 1 -seeded, 
indehiscent. Testa membranous. Albumen 0. Embryo straight ; cotyledons plano-convex, 
with two auricles below the base surrounding the radicle, which is superior. — Spreading 
many-stemmed under-shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, entire (3-leaved in K. cytisoides ) , 
without stipules, sometimes having in their axil bundles of little spines. Racemes simple, 
spike-shaped. Bracts of the stalks two. Hairs simple. 
Ten American species are known. 
Order LXIV. VOCHYACE^. 
VocHYSiACE^, Mart. Nov. Gen. 1. 123. (1824). — Vochysie.®, A. St. HU. M6m. Mus. 
6. 265. (1820) ; DC. Prodr. 3. 25. (1828). 
Essential Character. — Sepals 4-5, combined at the base, imbricated in aestivation, 
the upper one calcarate. Petals 1, 2, 3 or 5, alternate with the segments of the calyx, 
and inserted into their base, unequal. Stamens 1-5, usually opposite the petals, rarely 
alternate with them, arising from the bottom of the calyx, for the most part sterile, 1 of 
them having an ovate fertile 4-celled anther. Ovary superior, or partially inferior, 3 -celled ; 
ovules in each cell solitary or twin, attached to the base of the axis ; style and stigma 1 . 
Capsule 3-cornered, 3-celled, 3-valved, the valves bursting along their middle. Seed with- 
out albumen, erect ; embryo straight, inverted ; cotyledons large, foliaceous, convolute, 
plaited; radicle short, superior. — Trees. Branches opposite, when young 4-cornered. 
Leaves opposite, sometimes towards the extremities of the branches alternate, entire, with 
2 stipules at the base. Flowers usually in terminal panicles or racemes. 
Anomalies. Ovary either superior or inferior. The leaves of Salvertia have no 
stipules. 
Affinities. “ An order at present but ill understood, in habit and flower 
somewhat allied to Guttiferse or Marcgraaviacese, but distinct from both in 
the stamens being inserted into the calyx ; perhaps more directly connected 
with Combretaceae, on account of the convolute cotyledons and inverted seeds ; 
and even perhaps allied to some Onagraceae, on account of the abortive soli- 
tary stamen.” DC. Prodr. 3. 25. Is not the order nearer Violaceae an 
affinity strongly pointed out by the irregular flowers, 3-locular ovarium, and 
stipules, but impeded by the perigynous insertion of the stamens ; or yet 
nearer Polygalaceae, from which the calcarate flowers and ascending ovules 
principally distinguish it. 
