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common axis of inflorescence, or posterior, has not at present been ascertained. 
The reasons which have been offered for the view here taken of the parts sur- 
rounding this body, make it obvious that it must be considered the perianthium. 
But of this more will be said hereafter. For the present it will be sufficient 
to remark, that it manifestly bears an intimate relation to the stamens, being 
obliterated in the same direction and degree as they are. 
“ In this view, then, the petaloid segments are considered perfect bractese, 
the subulate interior processes abortive bracteae, and the fleshy central labelloid 
body the perianthium. 
“ However paradoxical this description of Gilliesia may appear, and how- 
ever inconclusive the arguments adduced in support of the view we have taken 
of it may have hitherto been considered, they will probably be found more 
deserving of attention if compared with a nearly- allied plant discovered in 
Chile, by our friend John Miers, Esq., after whom it has been named. This 
singular genus forais part of a most valuable and remarkable collection of 
botanical drawings, which were made by Mr. Miers during his long residence 
in Chile, and which, it is to be hoped, wiU, at some future day, be laid before 
the pubhc. Having been kindly permitted to make use of the drawing and 
manuscript description of the plant alluded to, we shall endeavour to explain 
the analogies and relation which exist between it and Gilliesia. 
“ In Miersia the bracteae are six in number, of which two are interior and 
four exterior, a still more valid reason against their being segments of a 
perianthium. The subulate processes assume a more regular form, and a 
more constant mode of insertion, but still bear no very apparent relation to 
the bractese ; and the fleshy labelloid central body is represented by an 
urceolate six-toothed cup, within the orifice of which six fertile stamens are 
included. In Miersia, therefore, the perianthium, which was in Gilliesia sub- 
ject to a certain degree of imperfection, in which the stamens also participated, 
is in the usual regular form of many Monocotyledones, no irregularity 
occurring in the stamens. As there can be no doubt of the strict analogy 
which exists between Gilliesia and Miersia in their fructification, and as there 
can also be little doubt that the central body of the latter genus is peri- 
anthium, it will follow as a necessary consequence, that as the supernumerary 
appendages of that genus are external with respect to the perianthium, and 
therefore neither perianthium nor stamens, so also will the anedogous ap- 
pendages of Gilliesia not be perianthium. And the central body having been 
ascertained to be perianthium, all the parts which surround it will necessarily 
be bractese, or modifications of bracteae. 
“ The natural affinity of these two genera is extremely obscure; and till 
some accurate information can be obtained of the structure of their seeds, it 
must be a subject of much uncertainty. Even with the requisite information 
upon that point, it is not probable that they will be found to bear any very 
close relation to the other monocotyledonous orders at present known. Their 
tunicated bulbs, spathaceous inflorescence, and general appearance, place them 
near Asphodelese, with some genera of which, especially Muscari and Pusch- 
kinia, Miersia at least agrees in the structure of perianthium ; but we are 
acquainted with no genus of Asphodelese to which the fructification of Gil- 
liesiaceee can be otherwise compared. If the one-flowered species of Schoenus, 
in which a single naked flower is surrounded by several imbricated squamae, 
be admitted as a form of inflorescence analogous to that under consideration, 
it may perhaps be allowable to carry this comparison yet further, and to 
suggest an identity of origin and function between the depauperated bracteae 
of Gilliesia and the hypogynous setae of Scirpus and other Cyperaceae. But 
on account of the presence of a perianthium, and of their polyspermous three- 
celled capsule, Gilliesiaceae may perhaps be with most propriety referred to the 
