224 
vensis and coeriilea, the Mouron of the French, have enjoyed a great reputation 
as specifics in case of madness ; but their use is discontinued. It appears, 
however, that An. aiwensis does really possess highly energetic powers, for 
Orfila destroyed a dog by making him swallow 3 drachms of the extract. 
Upon examination it was found to have inflamed the mucous membrane of 
the stomach. 
GENERA. 
Cyclamen, L. 
Dodecatheon, L. 
Soldanella, L. 
Cortusa, L. 
Androsace, L. 
Aretia, L. 
Andraspis, Duby. 
Gregoria, Duby. 
Douglasia, Lindl. 
Primula, L. 
Trientalis, L. 
Hottonia, L. 
Lubinia, Venten. 
Schwenckia, L. 
Chcetochilus, Vahl. 
Asterolinon, Link. 
Lysimachia, L. 
Lerouxia, Merot. 
Godinella, Lestib. 
Ephemerum, Rchb. 
Thyrsanthus, Schk. 
Euparea, Banks. 
Jirasekia, Schm. 
Naumburgia, Mbnch. 
Anagallis, L. 
Centunculus, L. 
Bacopa, Aubl. 
Coris, L. 
Glaux, L. 
Samolus, L. 
Sheffieldia, Forst. 
Order CLXX. MYRSINACEAE. 
Ophiosperma, Vent. Jard. Cels. 86. (1800). — MyRSiNEi®, R. Brown Prodr. 532. (1810.) — 
Ardisiace^e, Juss, Ann. Mus. XV. 350. (1810) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 163. (1830) ; 
Alph. DC. in Linn. Trans. 17. 100. (1834). — ^Egicere^, Blume in Ann. Sc. Nov. 
Ser. 11.91. (1834). 
Essential Character. — Flou'ers hermaphrodite or polygamous, rarely unisexual. 
Calyx 4- or 5-cleft, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, hypogjmous, 4-5-cieft, equal. Stamens 
4-5, opposite the segments of the corolla ! into the bases of which they are inserted ; fila- 
ments distinct, rarely connate, sometimes wanting, sometimes 5 sterile petaloid alternate 
ones ; anthers attached by their emarginate base, with 2 cells, dehiscing longitudinally. 
Ovary 1, with a single cell and a free central placenta, in the midst of which is immersed a 
definite or indefinite number of peltate ovules ; style 1, often very short; stigma lobed or 
undivided. Fruit fleshy, mostly 1 -seeded, sometimes 2-4-seedeA Seeds peltate, with a 
hollow hilum and a simple integument ; albumen horny, of the same shape as the seed ; 
embryo lying across the hilum, taper, usually curved ; cotyledons short ; radicle, if several 
seeds ripen, inferior. Plumula inconspicuous. — Trees or shrubs. alternate, undi- 
vided, serrated or entire, coriaceous, smooth ; stipules 0 ; sometimes under-shrubs, with op- 
posite or ternate leaves. Inflorescence in umbels, corymbs, or panicles, axillary, seldom 
terminal. Flowers small, white or red, often marked with sunken dots or glandular lines. 
Affinities. Scarcely difihrent from Primulacese, except in their arbore- 
scent habit and fleshy fruit ; the embryo always lies across the hilum, and the 
stamens are opposite the lobes of the corolla, as in that order ; add to which, 
the connivence of the anthers in a cone, which is frequent in Primulacese, is 
common in Mwsinace^e also. Brown remarks (1. c.), that the order is related 
to Sapotacese through Jacquinia, and to Primulacese through Bladhia. The 
immersion of the ovules in a fleshy placenta is a peculiar character of this tribe, 
.^gicerese of Blume differ in nothing except their want of albumen, and, 
which is probably a consequence of that peculiarity, their embryo germinating 
in the pericarp, like the Mangroves among which the ^gicereSe grow. But it 
is to be supposed that in a situation among the mud of the sea shore, the 
dampest that can well exist, the nascent embryo of a plant has no occasion 
for that supply of food, which in the form of albumen is so often stored up for 
them under other circumstances. I therefore consider the presence of albu- 
men in ^giceras to be a special but not an ordinal character in' this case, Msesa 
is to other Myrsinaceae what Samolus is to other Primulaceae. Mr. Amott re- 
marks to me that in some genera he finds dots of different shapes mixed as in 
Sarny daceae. 
