Order CCLXIX. DESVAUXIACE/E. 
Desvauxie^, Nixus Plantarum, p. 23. (1833) ; a § 0/ Restiaceee ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. p.36. 
(1830) ; Martins Conspectus, No. 38. (1835). — CENTROLEPiDEiE, Desvaux in Ann. 
des Sc. 13. 36. (1828). 
Essential Character. — Perianth 0, except sometimes a 2-valved glume. Stamen 1 ; 
anther simple. Ovaries from 3-18 attached to a common axis. Fruit as many 1 -seeded 
utricles, opening longitudinally. — Little tufted herbs, resembling small scirpi. Leaves seta- 
ceous, sheathing at the base. Scapes filiform, undivided, naked. Flowers enclosed in a 
terminal spathe. 
Affinities. Next Restiacese, from which they are separated chiefly on 
account of their numerous carpels, which dehisce when ripe, and their spatha- 
ceous inflorescence. Brown and Bartling have between them furnished the 
foregoing character. 
Geography. New Holland herbs. 
Properties. Unknown. 
GENERA. 
Desvauxia, R. Br. 
Centrolepis, La B. 
Alepyrum, R. Br. 
Order CCLXX. RESTIACEtE. 
RestiacejE, R. Brown Prodr. 243. (1810) ; Kunth in Humb. N. G. et Sp. 1. 251. (1815) ; 
Agardh Aph. 156. (1823) a § of Juncese ; Ach. Rich. Nouv. Elem. ed. 4. 424.' 
(1828) ; Lindl. Synops. 272. (1829) ; Neesv. Esenbeck, in Linnwa, 5. 627. (1830) 
et 7. 614. (1832). — Elegie^e, Beauv. in eod. loc. (1828). 
Essential Character. — Perianth inferior, 2-6-parted, seldom wanting. Stamens 
definite, 2-6 ; when they are from 2 to 3 in number, and attached to a perianth of 4 or 6 
divisions, they are then opposite the inner segments (petals) ; anthers usually unilocular. 
Ovary 1- or more celled, cells monospermous ; ovules pendulous. Fruit capsular, or nuca- 
mentaceous. Seeds inverted ; albumen of the same figure as the seed ; embryo lenticular, 
on the outside of the albumen, at that end of the seed which is most remote from the 
hilum. — Herbaceous plants or under-shrubs. Leaves simple, narrow, or none. Culms 
naked, or more usually protected by sheaths, which are slit, and have equitant margins. 
Flowers generally aggregate, in spikes or heads, separated by bracts, and most frequently 
unisexual. R. Br. (1810) ; alittle altered. 
Affinities. The principal character distinguishing this family from Jun- 
cacese and Cyperacese consists in its pendulous seed and lenticular embryo 
being placed at the extremity of the seed opposite to the umbilicus. From 
Juncaceae it also differs in the order of suppression of its stamina, which, when 
reduced to 3, are opposite to the inner segments of the perianth ; and most of 
its genera are distinguishable from both these orders, as well as from Com- 
melinaceae, by their simple or unilocular anthers. Brown in Flinders, 579. 
To this may be added, that the habit is rather that of Cyperaceae. From all 
the orders with spadiceous characters, the glumaceous nature of its perianth, 
when it is present, distinguishes this order. If the perianth is absent, it is 
then only to be known from Cyperacese by the position of the embryo, and by 
the sheaths of its leaves being slit. While I adopt the opinion of Eriocaulo- 
nese being a part of this natural order, I cannot doubt that the tripetaloid 
flower and polyspermous fruit of Xyris, characters indicating a far superior 
degree of evolution, are sufficient to separate that genus as the representative 
