207 
curved, never, however, round mealy albumen, and because in some of this group 
the embryo is straight, but then mealy albumen is present. Yet I am per- 
suaded that this is a tmly natural combination, and I leave to more acute bo- 
tanists to detennine exactly what the combining character is, if they can. 
Nyctaginacese are the most highly developed form of the group, and seem to 
connect it more with Monopetalae than any other order comprehended in it. 
Alliance I. CHENOPODIALES, 
Esskntiai. Character. — Albumen present. Radicle next the hilum. 
Order CLV. AMARANTACE^^l. The Amaranth Tribe. 
Amaranthi, Juss. Gen. 87. (1789). — Amaranthace^e, R. Brown Prodr. 413. (1810); 
Von Martins Monogr. (1826) ; Lindley’s Stjnopsis, 213. (1829). 
Essential Character. — Calyx 3- or 5-leaved, hypogynous, scarious, persistent, occa- 
sionally with 2 bractlets at the base, and generally immersed in dry coloured bracts. Sta- 
mens hypogynous, either 5, or some multiple of that number, either distinct or monadel- 
phous, occasionally partly abortive; anthers either 2-celled or 1 -celled. Ovary single, 
superior, 1- or few-seeded ; the ovules hanging from a free central funiculus ; style 1 or 
none ; stigma simple or compound. Fruit a membranous utricle. Seeds lentiform, pen- 
dulous ; testa crustaceous ; albumen central, farinaceous ; embryo curved round the cir- 
cumference ; radicle next the hilum ; plumule inconspicuous. — Herbs or shrubs. Leaves 
simple, opposite or alternate, without stipules. Flowers \n heads or spikes, usually coloured, 
occasionally unisexual, generally hermaphrodite. Pubescence simple, the hairs divided by 
internal partitions. 
Affinities. Different as this order appears to be from Chenopodiacese in 
habit, especially if we compare such a genus as Gomphrena with Chenopo- 
dium itself, it is so difficult to define the difierences that distinguish the two 
orders, that, beyond habit, nothing certain can be pointed out. Brown remarks 
{Prodr. 413.), that he has not been able to ascertain any absolute diagnosis to 
distinguish them by ; for the hypogynous insertion attributed to their stamens 
is not only not constant in the order, but is also found in some Chenopodia- 
cese. Martins, in a learned dissertation upon the order, describes Chenopodia- 
cese as being apetalous, and Amarantaceae as poh^etalous, considering the 
bractlets of these latter as a calyx, and that which I call a calyx a corolla. 
But it seems to me that this view of their stmctm'e is not borne out by analogy, 
and that it is impossible to believe the floral envelopes of the two orders to be 
of a difibrent nature. I am certainly unable to indicate any better mode of 
distinguishing them than has been pointed out by those who have gone before 
me ; and at the same time I cannot hesitate to keep asunder orders which it 
is evident that nature has divided. Bartling combines these plants in a single 
class, along with Caryophyllese, Phytolaccacese, Scleranthacese, and Illecebra- 
ceae ; and there is no doubt of the affinity borne to each other by all these, as 
is pointed out by their habit and by the structure of their seeds. Illecebra- 
cese are in fact only known by their petals and great membranous stipules. 
Geography. These plants grow in crowds or singly, either in dry, 
stony, barren stations, or among thickets upon the borders of woods, or a 
few even in salt marshes. They are much more frequent within the tro- 
pics than beyond them, and are unknown in the coldest regions of the 
world. 53 are found in tropical Asia, 105 in tropical America, but 5 in 
extra-tropical Asia, and but 21 in extra-tropical America; 5 are natives of 
