There is no species of Proteaceæ common to the east and west coasts of New Holland and certain genera abound at one extremity of the principal parallel which at the opposite extremity are either comparatively rare or entirely wanting.
I have formerly remarked that in this order no instance of deviation from the quaternary division of the perianthium has been observed; a fact which is the more remarkable as this is itself a deviation from the prevailing quinary number in the floral envelopes of Dicotyledonous plants.
There is a peculiarity in the structure of the stamina of certain genera of Proteaceæ, namely, Simsia, Conospermum, and Synaphea, in all of which these organs are connected in such a manner that the cohering lobes of two different antheræ form only one cell.
Another anomaly equally remarkable exists in Synaphea, the divisions of whose barren filament so intimately cohere with the stigma as to be absolutely lost in its substance, while the style and undivided part of the filament remain perfectly distinct.
SANTALACEÆ. I have formerly[1] proposed and at- 569] tempted to define this natural order, one of whose most remarkable characters consists in its unilocular ovarium, containing more than one, but always a determinate number of ovula, which are pendulous and attached to the apex of a central receptacle. This receptacle, which varies in its figure in the different genera, in some being filiform, in others nearly filling the cavity of the ovarium, had not been previously noticed in any plant of the order.
The greater part of the Santalaceæ of Terra Australis are found in the principal parallel, to which several genera, namely, Leptomeria, Corethrum, and Fusanus, are nearly limited; Santalum, on the other hand, is found chiefly within the tropic.
I have added Exocarpus and Anthobolus to this order, with certain genera of which they agree in habit and many points of structure, both of the flower and fruit; but they
- ↑ Prodr. fl. Nov. Holl. 350.
