Page:Miscellaneousbot01brow.djvu/318

 300 OBSERYATIOXS ON PLANTS

the siibgeneric name Hermodaciylum may, perliaps, be ap- plied, while that established on Hypoxis fascicularis may be called Monocarijum.

The position of the pistillum in CoIcJiiciim {Monocaryuiii) fascicuJare is not easily deterramed. I believe it to be placed within the anterior segment of the onter series of the perianthium ; bnt, from the great length of the tube, it is difficult to ascertain such a point in dried specimens. This, however, is the position in which I should expect it, both in reference to the usual relation of the solitary simple pistillum to the axis of the spike, or to the subtending bractea in all phaenogamous plants, and also with regard to the constant relation of the parts of the compound pis- tillum to the divisions of the perianthium in ]\Ionocotyle- dones ; for it is worthy of remark, that a difference in this relation may be said to exist in the two primary divisions of phoenogamous plants — the pistilla when distinct, or their component parts when united, being in Dicotyledones usually placed opposite to the petals, when these are of equal number ; while in Monocotyledones the cells of the trilocular ovarium are, I believe, uniformly opposite to the divisions of the outer series of the perianthium.

Cyperace.^. Of twelve species of this family existing in the herbarium, six are referable to Cyperus, three to Eimbristylis, and three to Scirpus. Among these theve is no remarkable, nor, I believe, any undescribed species. Of C. Papyrus, which, according to Captain Clapperton, grows in the Shary, there is no specimen in the collection.

Gramine/E. Of this extensive family, with which Dr. Oudney was more conversant than with any other, and to w^hich, therefore, during the expedition, he probably paid greater attention, the herbarium contains forty-five species ; and in dividing the order into two great tribes, as I have for- 244] merly proposed,^ thirty of these species belong to Poacece and fifteen to Pcmicece. This relative proportion of these two tribes is considerably different from what might have

^ Ilinderis Foy. to Terra AusU\ 2, _/?. 582. {Ante, pp. 57-8.)

�� �