IH I- "J 



M. COHUEA BE MELLu OX SOMK HHAXILIAN PLANTS. 255 



siderable time ; the pedicel curves so as to present the uodosity 

 downwards — a di^spositiou of which the object is to protect the 

 ovary, and indispensable to enable it to penetrate into the ground, 

 whicli would not otherwise take place, the peduncle being fili- 

 form and incapable of offering any resistance ; thus, however, 

 it penetrates perpendicularly into the soil to the depth of 4 inches 

 or more, and there the pod finally ripens. Tlie fact of my not having 

 seen these female apetalous flowers, mentioned by botanists of the 

 first authority, suggests the following queries: — Has the existence 

 of these apetalous flowers been verified? and if so, are they con- 

 stant on all individuals ? Has the transference of the plant 

 from Africa to Brazil had suflicient influence over it to cause 

 their disappearance ? Has the ovary, after the fall of the petals, 

 but still enveloped at the base by the persistent calyx, been mis- 

 taken for a female apetalous flower ? Or liave these flowers really 

 escaped my observation? These are questions which I cannot 

 at present definitively solve ; but I shall make a fresh planta- 

 tion and see wliether I can discover any thing. In the mean 

 time it appears to me to be placed beyond all doubt that the 

 hermaplirodite petaliferous flowers do produce fruit. 



The Order of Cucurbitaceae is here represented by very few 

 genera ; but they appear to me to be particularly interesting, not 

 only because the genera to which they belong are very insuffi- 

 ciently known, but for the medicinal pro{)erties which some of 

 the species possess. The rapidity with which the flowers fade and 

 lose their shap6, often resolving into a paste, has caused me 

 serious difficulties; so that, to enable me to study them and 

 have them drawn, I have been obliged to plant many of them 

 in my garden: and even here the difllculties have not been com- 

 pletely overcome; for, in some species, I have only been able to 

 procure one of the sexes. From the few observations which I have 

 hitherto made, I can say that Perianthopodus of Manso is gene- 

 rically the same as Trianosperma of Martius, there being only a 

 Small diflference of very little importance, which is, that the fruit 

 of the former contains usuallv one, sometimes two seeds, but little 

 compressed, with a callus at the base, whilst in a Trianosperma 

 very common in this neighbourhood, and which may well be 

 T. ficifolia. Mart., the fruits contain usually two, sometimes 

 three compressed seeds without any basal callus. 



Of tlie genus WilhrancUa, ]\ran.so, there must be at least two 

 species ; tlie one is W. hibhcoiiJes, Manso, the other the JF. drastica, 



