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 286 OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTS

Zygophyllese^ from the other subdivisions of that class in which he has included it, depends chiefly on the endocarp, or inner lamina of the pericarp, not separating from the outer lamina or united^epicarp and sarcocarp, and on the texture of the albumen. His first section of Zygophyllece, however, is characterised by the want of albumen ; and in his second section I find exceptions to the remaining cha- racter, especially, in Eagonia Mysorensis, in which the two laminae of the ripe capsule separate as completely as in Diosmese. Another plant, in my opinion, referable to the same order, and which, in memory of a very meritorious African traveller, I have named Seetzenia africana, has in its ripe capsule the epicarp, or united epicarp and sarcocarp, confined to the dorsal carina of each cell, the endocarp being the only membrane existing on the sides, which are exposed long before the bursting of the fruit. The plant in question has, indeed, many other peculiarities, some of which may, perhaps, be considered sufficient to authorise its separation from the order to which I have referred it ; for the aestivation of its calyx is valvular, it has no petals, its five styles are distinct to the base, and the cells of its ovarium appear to me to be monospermous. It completely retains, however, the characters of vegetation, on which I chiefly depend in distinguishing Zygophylleae ; and I have no doubt of its being Zygophyllum lanatum of Willdenow,^ by whom it is stated to be a native of Sierra Leone ; I suppose, however, on insufficient authority, for the specimens in the Banksian herbarium, from which I have made my observations, were found in South Africa near Olifant's E-iver, by Francis Masson.

In all the species of Fagonia, and in the two species of Zygophyllum in Dr. Oudney's collection, a character in the fructification still remains which is not found in Diosmese or Kutaceae, and which, were it general in Zygophyllese, would satisfactorily distinguish this order from all the families it has usually been compared with. This character consists in the direction of the embryo with relation to the

1 Mm. du Mm. (VHist. Nat. 12, p. 450. 2 ^^;. py^^f^ 2, p, 564.

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