In compliance however with those who do not look so deep into natural knowledge, we here introduce to their acquaintance almost the only wild eatable fruit of the country we are about to illustrate. It may serve as an olive-branch, to procure their patience as we proceed together hereafter through the consideration of less conspicuously interesting objects. Nor will the scientific botanist find the plant before us unworthy of his most accurate attention.
Its genus is easily characterised in the Linnæan system by the many-seeded berry above the flower, and may stand somewhere between Escallonia and Mangifera. We cannot certainly tell what genera are its natural allies, especially as we have no knowledge of the fruit and seeds except from a drawing. May it be akin to the Capparides of M. de. Jussieu?
The name Billardiera is given it in honour of James Julian la Billardiere, M.D. F.M.L.S. now engaged as botanist on board the French ships sent in search of M. de la Peyrouse. His Icones Plantarum Syriæ rariorum, the fruits of a journey to the Levant in 1786, justly entitle him to such a distinction.
We have acquired two species of this genus from New South Wales. The root of the present is woody and zigzag, with a reddish inner bark. Stems several, twining among other shrubs, branched, woody, round, downy when young, destitute of leaves except on the young branches. Leaves alternate, sessile, lanceolate, bluntish, mostly entire, but undulated and revolute in such a manner as to appear dentated, which they sometimes really are, paler beneath, slightly veined, most hairy when young. Stipulæ none. Flowers solitary, enveloped in long leaves, terminating the young branches, on short downy footstalks, drooping, of a pale lemon-colour, without bracteæ. Calyx regular, of five equal, narrow, pointed, leaves, hairy and ciliated. Petals five, twice as long, equal, lanceolate, pointed, attenuated at the base, inserted into the receptacle. Stamina five, as long as the calyx, and opposite to it, equal, subulate, smooth. Antheræ arrow-shaped. Germen altogether superior, oblong, very hairy. Style short, erect. Stigma simple. Berry cylindrical, yellow, very obtuse at both ends, downy, terminated by the permanent style, and said to have a very fine flavour, not unlike a roasted apple. Seeds numerous, horizontal, blackish.
EXPLANATION of TAB. I.
1. Calyx. 2. A Petal. 3. Stamina and Pistillum. 4, 4. Ripe Fruit. 5, 5. Footstalks. 6. Seeds.
TETRATHECA juncea.
Rushy Tetratheca.
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
OCTANDRIA Monogynia. Fl. complete.
Gen. Char. Cal. quadrifidus, inferus. Cor. tetrapetala. Capsula bilocularis, bivalvis; valvulis medio septiferis. Semina subbina.
Cal. four-cleft, inferior. Cor. of 4 petals. Caps. of two cells and two valves, with the partition from their middle. Seeds about two in each cell.
Spec. Char. T. glabra, foliis alternis lanceolatis, caule acutangulo, ramis elongatis nudiusculis.
Smooth. Leaves alternate, lanceolate. Stem with sharp angles. Branches elongated, and almost naked.
TO this pretty genus, three species of which have been sent from New South Wales, we have given the name Tetratheca, on account of the curious structure of its antheræ, each of which consists of four cells, communicating with one common tube, the excretory duct of the pollen. In the construction of this name we run counter indeed to a precept of Linnæus (Crit. Bot. p. 44), and we do so because in that instance we think him in the wrong. After objecting, with reason, to generic names too familiar in sound to each other, he is somewhat unmerciful in stigmatising almost all that have any syllables in common, and wonders at Vaillant for using the termination theca at all. The word surely in itself is unexceptionable; and as all the generic names of Vaillant constructed with it, even Tetragonotheca (which Linnæus at first retained), are now laid aside, and therefore there can be no ambiguity, we hope to be excused for adopting theca, as it so precisely suits our purpose.
Tetratheca probably belongs to M. de Jussieu's order of Ericæ, not indeed that it answers well to his characters of that order, but it is allied to some of its genera, especially Pyrola. All its species are small shrubs with red flowers (varying to white), which retain their colour when dried.
Tetratheca juncea has a small woody root, which has some appearance of that of an annual plant. The stem is much branched, even from the base; the branches alternate, long and slender, very acutely triangular, and almost winged. Leaves mostly small and not numerous, alternate, lanceolate, entire. Stipulæ none. Each branch produces a simple series of drooping flowers, in a racemose order, on simple capillary red footstalks, with a small leaf at the base of each. Calyx deeply cloven, obtuse. Petals obovate, crimson, paler on the outside, entire. Stamina equal; the filaments very short; antheræ slightly curved, with four blunt angles, and four furrows, brown, tipped with a pale simple tube, into which the four cells of the anthera open. Germen very small, obovate, compressed. Style short and simple. Capsule pendulous, obovate, compressed, pointed. Seeds two in each cell, one above the other, cylindrical, standing on a white twisted pedicle.
Every part is smooth. We have specimens of a variety with white petals, but the calyx and footstalk remain red.
EXPLANATION of TAB. II.
1. Calyx and Footstalk. 2. Petal. 3. Stamina. 4. A Stamen magnified. 5. The same cut across. 6. Capsule. 7,7. Seeds.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
