ORDER CXLVI.—OROBANCHEÆ.
Leafless parasites, with brown or colourless scaly stems and flowers. The genera are Lathræa and Orobanche.
ORDER CXLVII.—LENTIBULARIÆ.
Pretty little marsh plants, natives of Europe and North America. Pinguicula has very much the appearance of a violet, and the Utricularias are floating plants.
ORDER CXLVIII.—PRIMULACEÆ, THE PRIMROSE TRIBE.
The plants belonging to this order are easily known by the stamens, or rather anthers, for they have scarcely any filaments, being affixed to the corolla in the centre of the lobes, instead of being alternate to them, and by the capsule, though five or ten ribbed, being only one-celled, with a central placenta, to which the seeds are attached. The calyx remains on the ripe fruit. In the genus Primula (the Primrose), the calyx is tubular, and strongly marked with five distinct angles, which end in as many teeth; and the corolla is salver-shaped, with a contraction in the tube, at the insertion of the stamens, the five segments of the limb being wedge-shaped and notched. The style is slender, and the stigma capitate. The capsule opens naturally by ten teeth, which curl back. The Cyclamen, or Sow-bread, one of the genera belonging to this order, has the lobes of the corolla bent back; and when the flower falls, the peduncle coils up in a most curious manner, so as to bury the seed-vessel in the earth. These plants have tuberous roots, which are so acrid as only to be eaten by the wild-boars. The seed-vessel of the Pimpernel (Anagallis) resembles a round case with a lid, which may be taken off, when it displays a great number of seeds, so closely packed, that no room is lost. The principal other genera are the American Cowslip (Dodecatheon), Bear’s-ear Sanicle (Cortusa), Soldanella, the Water Violet (Hootonia), and Loosestrife (Lysimachia).
ORDER CXLIX.—GLOBULARIÆ.