214 * 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[Scleranthece. , 
Order SCLEEANTHE.E. 
Link. Sort. Bot. Berol, i. 417. 
Elowers bisexual. Calyx 4-5-cleft, its lobes imbricate in bud. Petals wanting. 
Stamens inserted to the orifice of the calyx, 1-5 fertile, opposite to its lobes, or 10. 
Anthers tw r o-celled, rarely one-celled, bursting with introrse longitudinal dehiscence. 
Staminodia setaceous or scale-like, alternate with the fertile stamens or wanting. 
Ovary free, one-celled. Ovides 1 or 2, suspended from the summit of a slender 
columella. Styles 2, free, introrse or at the su mmi t stigmatose, rarely 1. Fruit 
utricular, valveless, enclosed within the tube of the calyx, one-seeded. Albumen 
unilateral-central, farinaceous. Embryo peripherical, incompletely annular. 
Small herbaceous plants, distributed in a few species over the temperate regions 
of Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand, represented by 
Guilleminia in the Andes of South America. Leaves opposite, exstipulate, connate at 
the base. Elowers small, cymose, glomerate, geminate or solitary. Calyx articulate 
at the base.— Lindl. Veg. Kingd. edit. iii. 528 ; Koch, Synops. Flor. Germ. Sf Eelvet. 
edit. ii. vol. i. 281; Torrey, Flor. of the State of New York, i. 107. 
The series of tlialamiflorous orders, comprised in this volume, terminates here 
with Scleranthese, although these are strictly referable to the perigynous Curvem- 
bryonatse, bearing amongst them very close affinity to Paronychieae. Since, however, 
of the latter family, no species are known from Australia, we prefer to array our 
Scleranthi with Caryophvllcse. The alliance of Scleranthese to Salsolacese is intimate. 
SCLERANTHUS. 
Linn. Gen . Plant . 562. 
Calyx 4-5-cleft. Corolla none. Stamens 1-10. Anthers two-celled. Staminodia present or 
wanting. Ovary free, with one rarely two ovules. Styles two. Fruit utricular, enclosed within the 
tube of the calyx and dropping with the latter. 
Annual or perennial herbs, known from the extratropical parts of the northern hemisphere and 
of Australia, also from New Zealand. Leaves opposite, connate at the base, linear or subulate. 
Flowers small. Bracteoles geminate, persistent. Calyx usually indurated and the tube at the summit 
contracted.— Gcertn. de Fruct. & Sem. t. 126; Endl. Gen. 963 ; Gray & Spray. Gen. Flor. Bor. 
Amer. t. 102 ; Mniarum, Forst. Char. Gen. i . t. 1; Ditoca, Banks & Solander , in Gcertn. Carpolog. 
t. 126. 
Sclerantlius biflorus, J . Hook. Flor . Nov. Zeal. i. 74; Mniarum biflorum, Forst. Gen. 1. 1. i.; Com - 
ment. Goetting. 9, t. 1; Lam. Encycl . Method, t. 6; M. pedunculatum, Labill. Nov. Soil . Plant. Specim. 
i. 8, t. 2; Poh\ Encycl . t. 901; M. fasciculatum, P. Br. Prodr . i. 412; Hook. Icon. Plant, t. 283; Ditoca 
muscosa, Banks Sf Soland. in Gcei'tn. Carpolog. ii. 196, t. 126. 
