466 MR. E. G. BAKER ON A NEW SECTION 
Subgenus IV. Borryocrtinvs (Baker jil.). 
Ad arborum ramos parasitica. Caulis haud productus. Dioicus. 
Flores 3—4 glomerati, involucro circumcincti. Perianthii seg- 
menta6. Bracteole products. Connectivum supra loculos haud 
productum. Stigma radiato-oblatum. Placenta 9-12, simplices. 
Species 1.—Madagascar. 
DESCRIPTION OF PARASITE. 
1. Mode of Growth.—The parasite grows on the trunk of 
the host in a manner somewhat similar to Apodanthes (see 
Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii. p. 67, t. 22), but with this important 
difference: in Apodanthes the flowers are solitary, whilst in the 
present plant they grow in clusters of three or four, and each 
cluster is surrounded by numerous orbicular scale-leaves, 
similar in texture and appearance to those of the perianth. The 
inner leaves of this involucre are large, orbicular, and imbricated, 
and the outer ones, as in the involucre of many of the Composite, 
are gradually smaller and smaller, still retaining their orbicular 
shape, the outermost close to its attachment being reduced to a 
minimum. As to the mode of attachment, the parasite is on its 
lower surface wedged with irregular protrusions into the cortex 
of the host, the boundary between the parenchyma of the host 
and parasite being clearly marked. From the appearance of that 
portion of the host in contact with the parasite, it is evident that 
this latter has been gradually emerging, and that its vegetative 
portion has been formed in the interior of the host. 
2. Bracts and Perianth—From the staminate plant alone it 
would be difficult to draw any line of distinction between the 
bracts and flower-wrapper, but by studying the pistillate plant 
this difficulty disappears. At the base of the ovary there are 
several whorls of orbicular bract-leaves, and from a little under 
the apex of the ovary arise six much imbricated ovate perianth- 
segments. I gather from Mr. Baron that the perianth, bracts, 
and leaves of the involucre are all white in the fresh state; when 
dry they are the same dead brown which is familiar to us in most 
other parasites. In the staminate plant the whorls of leaves are 
much closer together; however, drawing an analogy from the 
female plant, we may consider the outermost as bracts and the 
two inner whorls as perianth. In the staminate plant the tube 
of the perianth is hollow, and is united to the staminal column 
by six septa, which divide it into six partitions. On the lower 
