PLANTS JAVANICE RAR10RES. 657
Semen unicum, testa? cum samarae cavitate cohaerens et omnino replens, striatum, subcylindraceum ; integumentum praeterea unicum, membranaceum, albumini arete adhaerens. Albumen semini conforme, aqueo-pallidum, dense carnosum. Embryo in apice (respectu pericarpii) albuminis, minutissi- raus ; radicula brevis, supera ; cotyledon adhucdum indi- visus, subglobosus, obtusissimus.
Obs. There are some points both in the botanical history and in the structure of the genus Cardiopteris which deserve to be specially noticed. It is probable that a short time before the publication of the 10th edition of his 'System a Naturae/ in 1759, Linnaeus had particularly exa- mined the figures of the ' Herbarium Amboinense,' for in that edition almost the only figures quoted of the different species of Dioscorea are those of that work, and under Dioscorea sativa he refers to Olus sanguinis, vol. v, p. 482, tab. 180, which is an undoubted and a tolerably good representation of Cardiopteris moluccana of Blume ; and in proof of Linnaeus having no doubt as to the correctness of his reference, he has in his own copy of the work written Dioscorea sativa under the figure quoted. This synonym is adopted by Willdenow in his edition of ' Species Planta- rum.' J. G. Kcenig, in vol. iii, p. 81 of his manuscripts, formerly in Sir Joseph Banks's Library, now in the Banksian or Botanical Department of the British Museum, quotes the same figure of Rumphius (with a doubt, however, as to the correctness of Linnaeus's reference to Dioscorea) for a plant which is no doubt Cardiopteris lobata, from his description in many respects very good, and with regard to stigma more nearly correct than some recent accounts. Kcenig considers his plant to be monoicous, as does Hasskarl (supr. cit.) : I also entertained the same opinion, having never found flowers with completely developed pistillum in which the corolla and consequently stamina were present. This, however, might depend on the advanced state of the flower whose corolla had fallen soon after expansion. Dr. Blume, therefore, is perhaps more cor- rect in considering the flowers as hermaphrodite, and I am
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