nute persistent bracteas, and crowned at the summit with the six un- 
equal segments of the perianth. Nut globose, with a very short acu- 
men. Albumen none. Embryo occupying the whole cavity of the cell, 
globose. Cotyledons very large, hemispherical, subcarnose: radicle su« 
perior, inclosed within the substance of the base of the cotyledons. 
Plumule conspicuous. 
A sincedes biecuieal production, running over other plants 
with its long and leafless stems, and frequent in the West In- 
dies. Our specimens were sent, both dried and in spirits, toge- 
ther with a coloured drawing, from the Island of St Vincent’s, 
by the Reverend Lanspown GUILDING. | 
It does not appear to have been ever cultivated in the stoves 
in England; but Jacquin took with him seeds of it from the 
West Indies, and sowed them in the hot-houses of Vienna, 
‘where they vegetated and flourished, being planted in a com- 
mon soil. After the stems, by their radicular tubercles, had 
| become attached to some neighbouring shrub, the parent indi- 
viduals ceased to derive nourishment from the earth, and de- 
‘pended solely on the plants to which they had fixed themselves. 
In Gartner’s description and figure of the Cassytha fili- 
formis, he has mistaken the cotyledons for albumen. Jussizvu 
had the same idea of that part, and was hence led to suppose 
_that the plant could not belong to the Order Laurinew, not- 
withstanding the great resemblance of every other portion of 
the flower. The learned and acute Brown detected this er- 
yor in Gartner, and satisfactorily shewed, in spite of the 
considerable dissimilarity of habit, that it could not with pro- 
priety be separated from that family. 
Mr BrowN has described four species of this genus as na- 
tives of New Holland. | 
Fig. 1. Flower. Fig. 2. The same, with the perianth spread open. Fig. 3. 
- The stamen which alternates with the segments of the perianth. Fig. 4. 
_ The stamen which is opposite tothis. Fig. 5. The stamen which is op- 
posite to the segments of the perianth. Fig. 6. The abortive stamen 
which is opposite to it. Fig. 7. Pistil. Fig. 8. Drupe. Fig. 9. The 
Nut taken from the drupe. Fig. 10. Nut opened, with part of the co- 
tyledon removed, to shew the radicle and plumule. Fig. 11. Trans- 
‘verse section of the ovule, to shew the two cotyledons.—All more or less 
magnified. 
