A  very  general  character  of  the  Soapworts  is  to  have  their  embryo  either  cmwed,  or
twisted  spii'ally.  This  occurs  in  a  remarkable  manner  in  the  nut  of  a  Demerara  tree,
called  the  Snake-nut,  in  conse-
quence of  the  large  embryo  re-
sembling a  snake  coiled  up .  Sir  R.
Schomburgk,  who  first  described
tliis  production  in  the  Annals  of
Natural  History,  vol.  5.  p.  204,
has  called  the  tree  Ophiocaryon
paradoxum.  The  accorapanymg
figure  represents  it  in  a  germi-
nating condition.  Another  pecu-
liarity resides  in  the  trunk  of  such
as  have  a  climbing  habit.  These
remarkable  plants  possess  several
distinct  woody  axes,  held  together  Fig.  CCLXVIII.
by  masses  of  cortical  matter,  so  that  they  resemble  several  thick-barked  stems,  forced
together  with  \'iolence.  Instances  of  this  stinicture  have  been  figured  by  Gaudichaud,
at  Plate  xiii.  of  liis  Recherches  sur  VOrganoyraphie.
Natives  of  most  parts  of  the  tropics,  but  especially  of  South  America  and  India.
Africa  knows  many  of  them,  but  they  are  wanting  in  the  cold  regions  of  the  north.
None  are  found  wild  in  Europe,  Dodonnea  represents  the  Order  in  New  Holland  ;
Horse  Chesnuts  in  the  north  of  India,  Persia,  and  the  United  States.
