Page:Miscellaneousbot01brow.djvu/57

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BOTANY OF TERRA AUSTRALIS.
39

rallel. Chloanthes[1] is the must singular among Verbenaceæ, having, with the fruit of that order, entirely the habit of Labiatæ.

Westringia and Prostanthera, with the genera nearly related to each of these, are the most worthy of notice among Labiatæ; all of them are limited to Terra Australis, and they are found chiefly in its principal parallel, but Westringia and Prostanthera abound also in Van Diemen's Island, and extend, though more sparingly, in the opposite direction as far as the tropic. Prostanthera is remarkable [566 in the appendages to its antheræ, in the texture of its fruit, and in the remains of albumen existing in the ripe seeds of several of its species. Westringia, and its related genera Microcorys and Hemigenia, differ from the rest of the order in having verticillate leaves, and from the greater part in the structure of antheræ, particularly in the order in which these organs become abortive. Westringia, according to Dr. Smith, has resupinate corolla, a term which in this case cannot allude to a mere inversion in the form of its lips, for this does not exist; and if it mean an absolute change in the relation of its parts to those of the calyx or to the included organs, it cannot, I apprehend, be admitted either in this genus or in any other of the order. The fact which I formerly stated[2] against the resupination of corolla in Labiatæ is the uniformity of its æstivation in this order, in which the upper lip always covers the lower. To those who do not consider this as a sufficient proof, the following, drawn from another equally uniform point of structure, may perhaps appear more satisfactory. In Labiatæ, as well as in several other orders with irregular flowers, the deviation from the usual quinary division of calyx and corolla in Dicotyledones, does not consist in an absolute suppression of parts, but merely in their confluence, a fact indicated by the disposition of vessels; thus the upper lip of the corolla, which in this order generally consists of one piece, either entire or more or less deeply bifid, is always furnished with two longitudinal nerves equidistant from its axis, which is without vessels; while each of the