448 Mottier . — The Embryology of some Anomalous Dicotyledons . 
depth, that representing the original cleft of the primordiurn being deeper. 
The two cotyledons have, therefore, a common base, having arisen from 
a common primordiurn. From these facts Lyon concludes that the embryo 
of Nelumbo lutea is monocotyledonous, placing the Nymphaeaceae among 
the Monocotyledons, in the series Helobieae. 
In a preliminary note on the embryo of three species of Nymphaea , 
N. odorata , Ait., N. coertdea , Sav., and N. Lotus , L., Conrad (’ 02 ) asserts 
that the development up to the stage of the spherical embryo coincides 
with that of Nelumbo , as described by Lyon, but ‘the spherical embryo, 
however, unlike that of Nelumbo , gives rise to two opposite and sym- 
metrical outgrowths near its lower end. These become the two equal 
cotyledons. The intervening apical portion of the sphere becomes the 
plumule, with the rudiments of two unequally developed leaves. The basal 
portion of the sphere becomes the radical.’ 
In the same year Schmid (’ 02 ) gave an account, though somewhat incom- 
plete as to certain details, of the embryology of two very remarkably anoma- 
lous dicotyledonous species, namely, Ranunculus Ficaria , L., and Corydalis 
cava , Schw. and Kte., one of the Fumariaceae. In Ranuncidus Ficaria , 
after the embryo has become somewhat pear-shaped, growth takes place in 
such a manner that the central part of the apex, i. e. the truncated distal 
end of the embryo, seems depressed, while the edge grows up in the form 
of a thick ridge, or rampart, concave within and kidney-shaped in cross- 
section. This ridge Schmid calls the Anlage of one cotyledon. During 
the germination of the seed, this cotyledon unfolds as a single broad 
lamina with a rather deep notch at its apex. There is no trace of a second 
cotyledon. Schmid’s Fig. 38, a-e i shows that this cotyledon arises as a 
kidney-shaped primordiurn, which seems to be exactly like that giving rise 
to the two cotyledons in Actea alba and in other species to be mentioned 
later on. The same origin is figured also for the single cotyledon of 
Bunium Bidbocastanum , one of the Umbelliferae. In Corydalis cava the 
cotyledon arises as in Ranuncidus Ficaria . Here the stem-apex is pushed 
to one side by the terminal position taken by the cotyledon. As in 
Ranunculus Ficaria , the base of the cotyledon is crescentic in cross-section, 
thus appearing with a narrow channel or groove down one side (Schmid, 
1 . c., Fig. 16). This condition resembles a cotyledonary tube open on one 
side. While Schmid regards this structure as one cotyledon, he states on 
p. 214 (1. c.) that the end of this cotyledon is slit near the apex, giving 
reference to his Fig. 49. Judging from this figure and from the fact that, 
in a number of other plants, the two unquestionable cotyledons have a 
single primordiurn, and inasmuch as Schmid has not given a more complete 
history of the embryo, it does not seem improbable that we have here two 
cotyledons with a common base, or in which one sinus is very much deeper 
than the other ; but as the writer has not examined this species, he prefers 
