93 
tion, except where the calyx is irregularly ruptured. Petals 5, or none, hypogynous, con- 
volute in sestivation, often saccate at the base, and variously lengthened at the apex. Sta- 
mens definite or indefinite, monadelphous in various ways, some among them being often 
sterile ; anthers 2-celled, turned outwards, sometimes anfractuose. Pistil consisting of 5, 
or rarely 3, carpels, either distinct or cohering into a single ovary, often seated upon a 
columnar gynophore. Styles equal in number to the carpels distinct or united ; ovules 
erect if definite ; sometimes indefinite. Fruit capsular, with 3 or 5 cells. Seeds with a 
strophiolate apex, often winged, sometimes woolly ; albumen oily or fleshy, rarely wanting ; 
embryo straight, with an inferior radicle ; cotyledons either foliaceous, flat, and plaited, or 
rolled round the plumule, or else very thick, but this only in the seeds without albumen. 
— Trees or shrubs. Pubescence often stellate. Leaves alternate, simple, often toothed, 
with stipules. Inflorescence variable. 
Anomalies. The carpella of Sterculia and Erythropsis are distinct, and their flowers 
have no petals. True Buttneriaceae have five abortive stamens. Waltheria has but one 
carpel, four being abortive. Cheirostema is apetalous.. 
Affinities. It appears that we have two different assemblages of plants 
in the old Malvaceae of authors, whereof a part have 2 celled anthers, and the 
remainder 1 -celled ones. The former circumstance hmits the order Sterculia- 
ceae, which comprehends several remarkable sets that might, if there were any 
difference in their sensible properties, be separated into so many distinct orders. 
Of these Helictere^ have an irregular calyx and corolla ; Sterculie^ no 
petals, and definite stamens placed at the end of a long column ; Bombace^ a 
calyx with a ruptile dehiscence, usually woolly seeds, and the cells of the an- 
thers anfractuose ; Dombey^, a part of the stamens sterile, and flat well 
formed petals ; Byttnerie^, a part of the stamens sterile, and small petals 
bagged at the base ; Lasiopetale^, a petaloid calyx, and rudimentary petals 
or 0 ; and Hermannie^, spirally twisted petals with only 5 stamens, and 
those opposite the petals. The monadelphous stamens of Sterculiacese dis- 
tinguish that order from Tiliacese and Dipteracese. Their valvate calyx is 
the great mark of combination which unites them with these last-mentioned 
orders. The fruit of Sterculia often exhibits beautiful illustrations of the real 
nature of that form of fruit which botanists call the follicle, and helps to de- 
monstrate that it, and hence all simple carpels, are formed of leaves, the sides 
of which are indexed, and the margins dilated into placentae, bearing ovules. 
In Firmiana platanifolia, in particular, the foUicles burst and acquire the form 
of coriaceous leaves, bearing the seeds upon their margin. But, notwithstanding 
this peculiarity of the distinct carpels, on account of which Sterculia would, as 
the type of an order, be referable to another group, it is impossible to doubt 
tliat Reevesia, a remarkable Chinese plant, having the habit and peculiar con- 
firmation of anthers found in Sterculia, along with the petals and fruit of 
Pterospermum, completely identifies the genus with the polypetalous syncar- 
pous group. 
Geography. India, New Holland, the Cape of Good Hope, and South 
America, with the West Indies, are the chief countries inhabited by this order, 
taken collectively ; hut its various sections are each characterised by peculiari- 
ties of geographical distribution. Thus : — 
Sterculiece are principally found in India and equinoctial Africa ; 5 or 6 only 
have been discovered in Mexico and South America. 
DombeytE are all African, East Indian, or South American. 
Of Hermanniece two-thirds are found exclusively at the Cape of Good 
Hope ; the remainder are chiefly West Indian and South American ; about 
one-tenth are natives of the East' Indies, and two or three are found in the 
South Seas. 
The Byttneriece are principally natives of South America and the West 
Indies ; about one-seventh is found in the East Indies, a similar number 
in New Holland, and a single species, Glossostemon Bruguieri, in Persia. 
