Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 67/3816 Stylidium fasciculatum

( 3816 )

Class and Order.

G D

( Nat. Ord.&mdash;S )

Generic Character.

Calycis limbus bilabiatus. Corolla irregularis quinque- fida, lacinia quinta (labello) dissimili minore sæpius de- flexa, reliquis patentibus interdum geminatim cohærentibus. Columna genitalium reclinata duplici flexura. Antheræ bilobæ lobis divaricatissimis. Stigma obtusum indivisum. Capsula bilocularis septo superne interdum incompleto.&mdash; Herbæ aut suffruticuli. Folia aut radicalia rosulata aut secus caulem sparsa, interdum basi attenuata. Pili sæpius apice glandulosi. De Cand.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

S fasciculatum; caulibus plurimis adscendentibus glaberrimis foliosis, foliis linearibus acutis summis fas- ciculato-subverticillatis, floribus in spicam subracemo- sam terminalem bracteatam ad rachin glabram digestis, capsula compressa lanceolata loculo superiore vacuo angustissimo. S fasciculatum. Brown, Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. p.    572. De Cand. Prod. 7. p. 337? Spreng. Syst. Veg. 3. p. 749? Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1459, certe.

Professor L has pointed out the only difference between the cultivated plant and Mr. B specific character; but this difference, which lies in the ovarium and fruit having only one perfect cell, is certainly neither acci- dental nor the effect of cultivation, as our figure of the ripe fruit, taken from a wild plant, will show. Native specimens were sent by Mr. B from King George's Sound, and they accord in every respect with that cultivated. M. D C appears to have seen only the latter, and yet he follows Mr. B in saying, that both cells of the capsule bear seed, while at the same time he refers to the Botanical Register, where the contrary is asserted.

D. Stems several from the same root, from one to two feet high, glabrous, leafy, particularly on the upper portion, slightly branched. Leaves linear, acute, very slightly rough: the upper ones as well as the bracteas, calyx, and outside of the corolla furnished with a short, glandular pubescence; lower ones scattered, upper ones fascicled, and forming a kind of verticel of several approximated rows. Spike from two and a half to six inches long, erect, shortly stalked, resembling a raceme on account of the attenuated base of the elongated ovaries: rachis glabrous. Bracteas subulate, incurved and slightly falcate. Calyx five-cleft, two-lipped, glandular, segments subulate. Corolla irregu- lar, five-cleft, one of the divisions resembling a lip, smaller than and of a different shape from the others, and deflexed: the other divisions oval, quite entire, white and spotted with red at the base. Stamens two: filaments united into a column with the style. Anthers two-lobed, incumbent on the stigma, the lobes much divaricated. Style one, united with the column of stamens. Stigma blunt, undivided. Ovary inferior, or cohering with the tube of the calyx, narrow-linear, twice as long as the bractea, attenuated at each extremity, compressed, with a ridge along the upper side, two-celled, the lower or anterior cell bearing many ovules; the upper minute and empty, contained within the ridge. Capsule compressed, lanceolate, attenuated at the apex, two-celled, the upper cell a mere indurated, empty, very narrow tube, which is indehiscent: lower cell ventri- cose, bursting along the placenta which is attached to the upper margin. Seeds small, oval, slightly roughish, chest- nut-coloured. Albumen between oily and fleshy, inclosing the minute embryo.

Professor mentions the plant to be annual, and only three or four inches high: in the greenhouse of the Botanical Garden of Glasgow its duration is more than annual, and it attains to about two feet. It is a very charming plant, no less deserving of cultivation for its beauty, than for the singular property of the column of stamens being endowed with a very active irritability, so that if touched with a pin on the out-side when curved, it bounds over to the opposite side of the flower and becomes inverted: this property is observable, in a greater or less degree, in the whole Genus. G.A.W.A.

Fig. 1. Flower, seen above, and f. 2, ditto seen from below, both seated on the apex of the Ovary. 3. Ovary, cut transversely about the middle: all magnified. 4. Ripe fruit, natural size. 5. Ditto, magnified. 6. Seed, magnified.