270 
T 
the summit of the cell immediately below the origin of the stigmas, but has 
no communication with that part of the cell, from contact with which it is 
further cut off by the overlying strap : but as soon as the pollen exercises its 
influence upon the stigmas, the strap slips aside from above the foramen, 
which is entered by an extension of the apex of the cell, and thus a direct 
communication is established between the pollen and the inside of the 
ovule. This phenomenon is obscurely hinted at by several winters, but was 
first distinctly shewn me by Brown, and has since been beautifully illustrated 
by Mirbel, Nouvelles Recherches sur V Ovule, tab. 4. Nyctaginacese are dis- 
tinguished by their curved embryo, want of petals, and coloured calyx, the 
base of which hardens and contracts an adhesion with the pericarp, which is 
finally absorbed. 
Geography. Many are inhabitants of the salt marshes and sea coasts of 
the temperate parts of the world, particularly of the basin of the Mediterranean 
and the southern provinces of the Russian empire ; others gi'ow from Green- 
land and the mountains of Europe, to the sterile volcanic regions of Cape 
Horn. A few are found within the tropics ; of these Plumbago zeylanica 
extends from Ceylon to Port Jackson, and ^gialitis grows among the Man- 
groves of northern Australasia. 
Properties. This order contains plants of very opposite qualities; part 
are tonic and astringent, and part acrid and caustic in the highest degree. 
The root of Statice caroliniana is one of the most powerful astringents in the 
vegetable materia medica. Bigelow, 2. 55. The bruised fresh bark of the 
root of Plumbago zeylanica acts as a vesicatory, an.d is applied in India to 
buboes in their incipient state. Ainslie, 2. 77. Plumbago europaea is 
employed by beggars to raise ulcers upon their bodies to excite pity ; and 
Plumbago scandens is remarkably acrid. Plumbago europaea is said by 
Duroques to have been used with considerable advantage in cases of cancer, 
for which purpose the ulcers were dressed twice daily with olive oil in which 
the leaves had been infused. Ihid. 2. 78. Plumbago scandens is called, on 
account of these properties, Herbe du Diable in St. Domingo. As garden 
plants, nearly the whole of the order is much prized for beauty, particularly 
the Statices, many of which are among the most lovely herbaceous plants w^e 
know. 
GENERA. 
Plumbago, L. Ceratostigma, Bye. Statice, L. Armeria, Willd. 
r/jcZa, Lour. ? .^Egialitis, R. Br. Taxanthema. "SccV. 
Vogelia, T.am. ' R- Br. 
Group IV. J^ucamentoi^ae. 
Essential, Character. — Fruit consisting of several (usually 4) lobes which are either 
originally distinct or separate from each other when ripe, without any trace of a central pla- 
centa ; if capsular, then with the inflorescence gyrate. ^Estivation of corolla never plaited. 
Under this character is assembled a collection of orders allied to each other 
in the most intimate manner, and so distinctly characterized, that but few 
remarks are necessary to explain their hmits. It is, in the first place, to be 
remarked, that the aestivation of the coroUa is never plaited; otherwise, 
Nolanacese, which can by no means be separated far fi-om Convoh-ulacese, 
would belong to this group. Secondly, whenever the carpels are combined 
or lobeless, as in Verbenacese, &c. the fmit finally separates into little nuts 
