666


SELAGINACE^.
[Perigynous  Exogens.
Order  CCLVIII.     SELAGINACE^.— Selagids.
Selagineae,  Juss.  Ami.  Mus.  7.  71.  (1806)  ;  Richard  in  Pers.  Synops.  2.  146;  Choisy  Mdmoire,  (1823) ;
Bartl.  Ord.  Nat.  177 ;  Endl.  Gen.  cxl. ;  E.  Meyer,  Comment,  pi.  Afr.  Austr.  245 ;  Meisner  Gen.  p.
292.— Globularineas,  DC.  Fl.  Fr.  3.  427.  (1815)  ;  CambessMes  in  Ann.  des  Sciences,  9.  15;  E7idL
Gen.  cxxxix. ;  Link  Handb.  1. 675  ;  Meisner,  p.  315.
Diagnosis. — Echial  Exogens,  with  irregular  unsyinmetrical  flowers,  confluent  nuts,  pendu-
lous ovules,  and  1-celled  anthers.
Herbaceous  plants,   or  small  branched  shrubs.     Leaves  alternate,  generally
toothed,  or  entii-e,  without  stipules,  usually  in  clusters.
Flowers  sessile,  spiked,  with  large  bracts.     Calyx  spa-

thaceous,  or  tubular,  per-
sistent, with  a  definite  num-
ber of  teeth  or    divisions,

rarely    consisting    of    two

sepals.       Corolla    tubular,

hypogjTious,  more  or  less

iiTeguiar,  with  5  lobes,  im-
bricated     in      aestivation.
Stamens  4,  usually  didyna-

mous,  arising  from  the  top

of  the  tube  of  the  corolla,

seldom  2  ;  anthers  1-celled,

usually  aduate  to  the  dilated

top  of  the  filament,  rarely

versatile.    Ovary  superior  ;

style    1,    filiform  ;    stigma

nearly  capitate  ;  ovules  soU-

tary,  pendulous,  anatropal.
Disk    hypogjTious,    fleshy.
Fruit    2-celled  ;    the    cells


Fig.  CCCCXLIV.
Fig.  CCCCXLV.
either  separable  or  inseparable,  1 -seeded,  membranous.  Seed  solitary,  pendulous  ;
embryo  in  the  axis  of  a  little  fleshy  albumen  ;  radicle  superior.
