all bear to Olacinea, as was also first indicated by Mr. Brown* and afterwards well illustrated by M. Decaisne,
after a comparison of tbe ovules of Fiscum albtim,! with those of Thesiuni. The ripe fruit of M. punctnlaimi forms
an achenium, which generally dehisces longitudinally and allows of the partial or complete exscrtiou of the
seed ; but I am not aware whether germination takes place by the embryo becoming thus excluded, or whether,
as iu the following species, the radicle protrudes at the apex of the fruit, pushing the disc aud style before it.
The feathery filaments (hereafter to be described) are not so long in this species as in the following, or probably
as in any of its congeners, except tbe il/. mhricatiiin,X Poepp., of South Chili; they are plumose with long hairs,
which are capitate at the apex. The walls of the pericarp are more membranous here than in tbe other species,
aud, when fully ripe, the calycine portion looks like tlnee plates, attached longitudinally by part of their surface
to the endocarp ; the filaments being lodged in the spaces formed by thcii' contiguous non-adherent portion (P late
CIY'./. 16.). The stout central column of the ovarium is elongated in the fruit into a slender chord, pressed
between the seed and walls of the cavity of the fruit, and resembles a funiculus ; its edges are ragged from the
rapid elongation of its substance. The true funiculus is extremely short, and bcai's at its base the two very
minute unimpregnated ovides (Plate C IV ./. 18 and 19). The seed is lineai'-oblong, narrow and obtuse at both
extremities. The albumen is copious, formed of utricles that at first are readily separable; and though the
outer ones adhere closely, they do not seem covered with any distinct testa ; a cavity in the upper part contains
the greater portion of the embrj'O, wliich is of very highly organized tissue, and the radicle which is not immersed in
the albumen is covered with a membrane apparently continuous from the funiculus, which at an early period may be
traced downwards, lining the cavity of the albumen (P late CI\'. / . 19, where the membrane is represented
as too thick in texture). At no time can I detect the lower portion of this membrane (first observed by
Mr.Brown), except whilst the cells of the albumen are loosely held together and may be scraped by the knife
from its surface, and then it appears homogenous and of a different texture from w'hat covers the radicle,
which is cellidar (Plate CIV. / . 20). The embiyo is very smaU, the radiculai* extremity capitate, with a
depression at the top ; the cotyledonaiy terete, abrupt, slightly curved and fistulöse at the apex : the cotyledons are
consolidated and present no trace of any hne of union. The tissue of the radicle differs materially from that of
the cotyledons, which may be seen even before, but still more remarkably after, dissection (Plate CIV. / . 20). The
upper portion of the capitulum, above the upper margin of the cavity of the albumen, is composed of delicate filiform
cells of considerable length, enclosed in a cellular cuticle of great tenuity. The lower half and terete cotylcdonary
portion consists of closely-packed oblong cells, projecting in the fonn of a cone towards the radicular end. This
structure, somewhat modified, exists in M. brachystacJiyum (Plate CV. / 20 and 21), the tissue of the radicle
being much more lax than that of the cotyledons. The peculiar functions of the radicle doubtless demaud this
highly organized structure, both for rapid elongation and for the sudden spread of the membi-ane by wdiich the
following, and probably all the species, are first attached to the bark whereon they grow. In the present, the true
radicle which pierces the bark is probably tbe conical continuation of the cotyledonaiy portion'.
The plumose pappi of the achenium afford one of the great peculiarities of this genus ; of their function there
can be no doubt, though their origin and true nature are not quite so evident. De Candolle,§ from an examination
of very imperfect specimens, described tbem sufficiently accurately, as scales contained in tbe walls of the pericarp.
Guillemin Ij also considers them to be pappifoim appendices, contained in fissures of the achenia. Neither of these
* Brown, Prodromus Flor. Nov. H o ll, p. 352.
t Decaisne, Sur le pollen et l’ovule du Gui. Act. Acad. Roy. de Bruxelles, vol, xiii.
+ This species I have never seen, nor are either the figiu’es or descriptions satisfactory, vid. Poeppig et
Endlicher, Nov. Gen. et Sp. &c. vol. i. p. 2. t. 3.
§ De Candolle, sur la Famille des Loranthacées, p. 12.
li Poeppig and Endlicher, Nov. Gen. et Sp. Plant. Per. et Chili, vol. i. p. 1.
aulliors oltos a„y explanation of tl.cir true nature. Poeppig* deseribes several species and, trusting more o
a tlicoretical opinion of tbeir origin, than to a careful analysis of the parts, or the dcfimtions of De Candolle
and auillemin. lie misapprehends the stnietui-e of the ovarium, eonsidering it to be a compound body, made np of
tlmee carpels eombined, and ofthe plumose filaments, whieh are deseribed in the generic character as Setæ hypo-
■rvme alternating with the ovaria, aud in the observations on the genus are doubtfully called Staminodia. Lastly
Endliebert regards the single ovarium as compounded of six, enclosed in a thi-ec-parted involucre, three of
them fertile and three sterile, the latter being tho plumose filaments.
Tlie female flower of Myzodendron consisting of a solitary ovarium, enclosed in the adherent tube of the
calyx it is evident that the plumose setæ must be a production of the calyx or ovarium. Their fhnetion and
appearance resemble the pappus of Compodloe, and particularly of Valeriana in being only fully developed dunng
tbe ripening of the seed. They cannot bo compared with the four stout woody nerves of lu p n a Antarctica, which
ascendinv from the pedicel, tenninate in the sarcocarp of its heny in four sharp points that arch over an opening
in the upper end of the endocarp of that plant, for the setæ of Myzodendron contain no spiral vessels, and
the trae iieiwes of the calyx, tliough very obscure, may be traced in some of the species, as in M. hrachydacliyurn,
where they appear alternating with the position of the setæ (P late CV. / . 11).
The tissue of which these setæ are composed, is identical with what forms the sarcocarp of TnpeÎM and Vkcnrn,
namely, elongated viscid ceUs of great tenuity filled with a glntinons matter; in most lorantMceoe this tasue
surrounds the endoeai-p and at an early period deliquesces into a homogenous viscid fluid, hke that of Viseiim When
looking over the plants of this order, in Dr. Lindley’s herbarium. I remarked one* whose npe pericarp had burst
dnrinvpressm-e and emitted a cottony substance ; that gentleman liberaUy gave me specimens for exammation,
whieh showed the sarcocarp to be intermediate in its nature between that of Tupeia and ot Myzodendron, being
feathery and neither so deliquescent as in the fonner, nor elaborated into such a peculiar organ as m the latter.
The elaboration of these setæ, from cellular tissue, cannot be regai-ded otherwise than a very singular
phenomenon, and. so far as my obseiwations serve, it appears that it is merely the result of a rapid elongation of
cellular tissue. The viscid substance, then, in this genns, instead of surrounding the endocarp, is confined within
three fissures, and there collected into a terete or compressed body, which, escaping from its confinement, rapidly
elongates from the gi-oivth of the cells which compose it. more than fr-om the addition of new matter. The plumose
appearance is caused by tbe separation of some of the utricles, which diverge on all sides in the species m which
the setæ ai-e terete, or in theii- opposite margins when the latter are compressed. Of afl the species, the setæ ot
M. ohlongifolmm are the longest, and there ai-e vai-ious gradations in length and tenuity between them and those of
M puuctulatwn. The M. lhiearifoliani,% DC., has not only very long and slender filaments, but its whole endo-
earp is at times sm-i-ounded with a feathery substance, whieh is thus not, as in its congeners, confined m loenlre
when placed in water this feathery substance deliquesces. In M. imbricatuni, Poepp., the fissures of the penearp
are, aeeording to the author of that species, filled with undivided stout obtuse filaments, collected together at the
base, and never exserted.
I need scarcely idlude to the fact, that the function performed by tbe gluten of Viscum and the feathery setæ
of Myzodendron is identical, though effected in a different way, and that it atibrds a singular instance of nature's
employing the same means in a very dissimilar maimer to Hie attainment of the same end. The viscid matter of
* Guillemin in Delessert’s leones Selectaq vol. iii. p. 47.
t Endlicher, Genera Plaiitarmn, p. 800. ii. 4581.
Í Lepidoceras Dombeyi, vid. supra, p. 293.
5 A name which, without any assigned reason, has been altered to lineare iu the Am-u Genera et Species Plant.
OUI. et Periiv.