originate from its upper part; and in the induplicate æstivation of the laminæ of the hypocrateriform perianthium. In this last respect the genus presents an exception to what I had formerly considered as one of the most constant distinguishing characters of the order; it does not, however, so materially invalidate this character as a change to any other kind of æstivation would have done; the induplicate and valvular modes passing into each other, merely by an abstraction or addition of the elevated margins of the laciniæ. Instances of the abstraction of these elevated margins, in orders where they are generally present, are met with in Goodenoviæ and Convolvulaceæ, and an instance of their addition as in Franklandia occurs, though less obviously, in Chuquiraga, a genus belonging to Compositæ, in which family the valvular æstivation is as general as in Proteaceae.
The æstivation of Franklandia may be adduced in support of that opinion which considers the floral envelope of Proteaceae as corolla rather than calyx; there being, I believe, no instance of a similar æstivation in a genuine calyx, unless that of Nyctaginæ be regarded as such: but a stronger argument for this envelope being really calyx is afforded also by Franklandia, in which the transition from the footstalk to the perianthium is so gradual as to be externally imperceptible, and is not marked either by any change or interruption of the surface.
The apparently similar origin in Franklandia of the stamina and squamæ affords an argument, in addition to what I had formerly stated,[1] for considering the latter as [606 barren filaments; we may, therefore, expect to find octandrous genera belonging to this family. While the persistence and induration of the lower half of the perianthium in this genus, and the perigynous origin of the squamæ, which in other genera of the order are hypogynous, render it not improbable that plants may hereafter be discovered having a calyx absolutely cohering with the ovarium, which nevertheless it may be necessary to refer to Proteaceæ.
- ↑ Linn. soc. transact. 10, p. 159.
