| Mr. Brown, on the Proteaceae of Jussieu. | 29 |
nera however, as in Banksia and Isopogon, it is evidently of very little importance.
The fleshy or scale-like bodies, which surround the ovarium in the greater number of plants of this family, are in many case so manifestly secreting organs, that it is surprising Mr. Salisbury should hesitate in considering them as nectaria, and denominate them calli; a term which excludes the idea of secretion. But whatever their functions may be, great assistance may certainly be derived from their various modifications, in distinguishing genera. Their importance however in this respect, like that of all other parts, not only in this, but, as I apprehend, in every natural family, is very unequal, and in some cases seems to be entirely lost. Thus, in the genus Leucadendron as it is here constituted, they are wanting in several species, and in some I am inclined to think exist only in the males.
In most of the regular-flowered genera they are four in number, and alternate with the leaves or laciniæ of the calyx. In these genera they are also generally in the form of succulent scales, distinct, or more rarely cohering at their base, and in a very few instances adhering to the calyx; but in Persoonia they are nearly round and fleshy, and in Bellendena, Symphionema, Simsia, Agastachya, Petrophila, and Isopogon, they are entirely wanting.
In the irregular-flowered genera with two or many seeds their number is less than four, in most cases only one exists, in a few others three, and in some none.
Varieties in the structure or apparent origin of the stamina, afford, as might be expected, important generic characters. Their usual insertion in the order is in the concave tops of the laciniæ of the calyx; all considerable deviations from which may safely be employed in characterizing genera. In this way Rho-
pala,
