Page:Miscellaneousbot01brow.djvu/38

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GENERAL REMARKS ON THE

remarks on the structure and limits of Combretaceæ, one of whose principal characters consists in the unilocular ovarium with two or more ovula simply pendulous from the upper part of its cavity, and not inserted, as in Santalacese, into a central receptacle or column. Guiera of Jussieu, having the same structure, and also leaves dotted with pellucid glands, appears to connect this order with Myrtaceæ.

The Australian Combretaceæ, which belong to Terminalia; Chuncoa, and Laguncularia, are not numerous, and all of them are found within the tropic.


CUNONIACEÆ.[1] This order, several of whose genera have been referred to Saxifrageæ, is more readily distinguished from that family by its widely different habit, than by any very important characters in its fructification; like 549] Saxifrageæ also it comprehends genera with ovarium superum and inferum.

The genera strictly belonging to Cunoniaceæ are Weinmannia, Cunonia, Ceratopetalum, Calycomis, and Codia. To this order Bauera may also be referred, but it must form a separate section from the genera already mentioned. Of these Weinmannia, Ceratopetalum and Calycomis are found in Terra Australis, and hitherto only at the eastern extremity of its principal parallel, where also Bauera is most abundant; but this genus is found beyond the parallel in one direction, extending to the southern extremity of Van Diemen's Island.


RHIZOPHOREÆ.[2] The genera Rhizophora, Bruguiera,

  1. Cunoniaceæ. Calyx 1-ph. 4-5-fidus, semisuperus vel inferus. Petala 4-5; rarò nulla. Stamina perigyna, definita, 8-l0. Ovarium biloculare, loculis 2-polyspermis: Stylus 1-2. Pericarpium biloculare, capsulare vel clausum. Embryo in axi albuminis carnosi.

    Arbores vel Frutices. Folia opposita, composita vel simplicia, sæpius stipulata stipulis interpetiolaribus.

  2. Rhizophoreæ. Calyx superus 4-5-fidus, æstivatione valvata. Petala 4-5. Stamina perigyna, 8-15. Ovarium, 2-loc. loculis 2-polyspermis ovulis pendulis: Stylus 1. Pericarpium clausum, monospermum. Semen exalbuminosum. Embryo sæpe germinans et pericarpium semisuperum perforans.

    Arbores. Folia opposita, simplicia, stipulis interpetiolaribus.