205 
is sustained, it is impossible to agree with Brongniart in the conclusion at 
which he has arrived. To say nothing of the extreme dissimilarity in habit 
between these plants, the structure of their fruit appears to me essentially dif- 
ferent ; and the seeds of Cytinus being unknown, the resemblance between 
it and Nepenthes is reduced to a similarity in the arrangement of the anthers, 
which cannot m the present case be considered of much importance, as it in 
some degree depends upon the unisexuality of the flowers of both genera. 
The only intelligible approximation of the order has been made by Brown, who 
with his usual unerring sagacity points out its relation to Aristolochiaceae ; as 
to which the structure of the wood in some respects completely confirms his 
views. Like that order, it is zoneless, although plainly exogenous ; but it has 
this in particular to characterise it, that the system of spiral vessels is deve- 
loped in a degree unknown in any other plants. The water contained in the 
unopened pitcher of a plant which flowered in the Botanic Garden of Edin- 
burgh, was found by Dr, Turner “ to emit, while boiling, an odour like baked 
apples, from containing a trace of vegetable matter, and to yield minute crystals 
of superoxalate of potash on being slowly evaporated to dryness,” B. Mag. 
2798. There is a good account of the germination of Nepenthes, in Jame- 
son’s Journal for April 1830, from which it may be concluded that the long 
loose tunic of the seed is intended to act at first as a buoy, to float the seed 
upon the surface of the water, and afterwards as an anchor, to keep it fast 
upon the mud until it can have struck root. 
Geography. All natives of swamps in the East Indies and China. 
Properties. Unknown. 
GENUS.. 
Nepenthes, L. 
Phyllamphora, Lour. 
Alliance II. ARISTOLO CHI ALES. 
Essential Character. — Ovary inferior. 
Order CLIV. ARISTOLOCHIACEi^L. The Birthwort Tribe. 
Aristolochi^, Juss. Gen. (1789) ; R. Brown Prodr. 349. (1810) ; Lindley’s Synopsis, 
224. (1829) ; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1543. {Dec. 1832). — Pistolochin^e and Asarin.®, 
Link Handb. 1. 367. (1829) — Asarine^e, Bartl. Ord. Nat. 81. (1830). 
Essential Character. — FZoiL'm hermaphrodite. Calyx superior, tubular with 3 seg- 
ments, which are valvate in aestivation, sometimes regular, sometimes very unequal. Sta- 
mens 6 to 10, epigynous, distinct, or adhering to the style emd stigmas. Ovary inferior, 3- 
or 6-celled ; ovules numerous, horizontally attached to the axis ; style simple, stigmas radia- 
ting, as numerous as the cells of the ovary. Fruit dry or succulent, 3- or 6-celled, many 
seeded. Seeds with a very minute embryo placed in the base of fleshy albumen. — Herba- 
ceous plants or shrubs, the latter often climbing. Leaves alternate, simple, stalked, often 
with leafy stipules. PTood without concentric zones. Flowers axillary, solitary, browm or 
some dull colour. 
Affinities. These are usually stationed upon the limits of monocotyle- 
dons and dicotyledons, agreeing with the former in the ternary division of the 
flower, and in some respects in habit ; with the latter in the more essential 
points of their structure. De Candolle, in the Botanicon GalUcum, places 
them between Elseagnaceae and Euphorbiacese, to the former of which they 
approach through Asarum, but with the latter of which their relation is not 
