176  The  Botanical  Source  of  Jaborandi.  {^"'Airii'is^yt™' 
anastomose  towards  the  outer  edge  and  are  almost  absent  from  the  inner 
edge.  The  convex  surfaces  only  are  dotted  with  oil  receptacles.  The 
endocarp  (fig.  10)  is  smooth  and  pale  yellow,  with  a  wide  sinus  in  the 
inner  edge,  which  is  occupied  by  a  membranous  expansion  (fig.  7)  of 
the  shape  shown  in  fig.  8.  To  the  upper  portion  of  this  expansion, 
which  appears  to  be  a  dilatation  of  the  placenta,  the  seed  (fig.  9)  is 
suspended  by  a  narrow,  lancet-shaped,  extremely  short  funiculus  ;  this 
is  shown  in  fig.  5.  The  seed,  of  wh.ich  there  is  only  one  in  each  car- 
pel, is  black  and  shining,  somewhat  reniform,  convex  on  both  sides, 
enlarging  towards  its  base,  and  forming  a  sharp  ridge  at  the  back  towards 
the  apex. 
The  hilum  is  lancet-shaped,  the  vessels  appearing  to  pass  through  its 
lower  end  (fig.  9  d).  The  testa  is  thick  and  coriaceous,  the  endo- 
pleura  membranous.  The  seed  is  inverted,  somewhat  reniform  in  out- 
line, with  a  superior  radicle,  plano-convex  cotyledons,  and  is  exalbumi- 
nous,  the  radicle  being  very  minute  (fig.  11). 
The  genus  Pilocarpus^  to  which  our  plant  has  been  referred  by  Pro- 
fessor Baillon,  was  limited,  as  originally  defined  by  Vahl*  to  plants  with 
simple  leaves,  and  seeds  having  biauriculate  cotyledons.  As  further 
extended  by  Bentham  and  Hooker  in  their  "  Genera  Plantarum,"  p. 
299,  the  plants  of  the  genus  Pilocarpus  are  said  to  have  "  simple,  ternate 
or  pinnate  leaves,"  while  no  mention  is  made  of  the  cotyledons  being 
biauriculate.  The  seeds,  however,  are  stated  to  be  ovate,  with  a  mem- 
branaceous testa,  and  exalbuminous. 
The  Jaborandi  plant  differs  from  the  description  of  the  genus,  as 
defined  in  the  "  Genera  Plantarum,"  only  in  the  following  particulars  : 
the  seeds  are  somewhat  reniform,  not  ovate,  and  the  testa  is  coriaceous, 
not  membranaceous.  The  cotyledons  are  not  auriculate,  but  as  that 
character  is  not  given  as  an  important  one,  it  alone  is  not  sufficient  to 
exclude  the  plant  from  the  genus. 
Since  there  are  several  genera  closely  allied  to  Pilocarpus  in  the  tribe 
Xanthoxylea)  to  which  Jaborandi  evidently  belongs,  it  will  not  be  pos- 
sible, until  the  flowers  of  the  Jaborandi  plant  have  been  examined,  to 
decide  with  certainty  whether  it  belongs  to  the  genus  Pilocarpus  or  not, 
for  the  above-mentioned  differences  can  scarcely  be  considered  suffi- 
cient to  separate  it.  .....  . 
As  there  are  several  plants  used  in  South  America  under  the  name 
of  Jaborandi,  which  seem  to  possess  somewhat  similar  properties  in 
Vahl  Eclog.,"  i,  p.  29. 
