4 TEXAS RESEARCH FOUNDATION: CONTRIBUTIONS, VOLUME 5 
late, or obtuse and emarginate. In some species there is an apical groove on the 
dorsal side. Most are glabrous, a few bear some apical hairs. In P. serrulata 
(Sw.) Mez, there is a dorsal line of hairs, and the apex is conspicuously barbate. 
Erect or versatile, the versatile anthers are all dorsifixed at or near the middle, 
the erect ones mostly lower and some basal. 
The presence or absence of glands dorsally on the connectives of the anthers, 
the color of the glands, and the size, shape, and development of the glands are 
all very useful features in differentiating species. Within each taxon, the puncta- 
tion of anthers is consistent and dependable. The punctation ranges from mi- 
nute rounded glands to elevated fused masses of conspicuous glands, the color 
either orange, reddish or black, mostly black. 
The pistil is either glabrous or pubescent. Rarely, as in P. cubana (A.DC.) 
Mol. & Gomez Maza, are glabrous and pubescent pistils found in the same taxon. 
The indument is usually consistent in character within a taxon, and persistent 
even on young fruits. The pubescence ranges from papillose to short villous 
to hirtellous to densely tomentose, the hairs either simple and erect, branched, 
or matted. The ovaries are ovoid or subglobose, rarely subtruncate. In some 
species they are ribbed. The style is slender, short to elongate, usually subequal- 
ing the petals; it is often pubescent at base, and punctate. The stigma is puncti- 
form. : 
In the 1-celled ovary, the free central placenta is basally attached. It is often 
apiculate, sometimes acicular at apex. The ovules vary from few (three) to 
numerous (nineteen), and they are uniseriate mostly, but sometimes partly 
biseriate, and rarely and atypically pluriseriate, as in P. trichogyne Hemsl. 
Within a taxon, the number rarely exceeds four between the limits of minimum 
and maximum. The number of ovules is useful for indicating relationships. 
The ovules may be either completely immersed or enclosed in the placenta, or 
exposed apically through openings in the placenta wall. 
The fruits are globose or subglobose, 1-celled, 1-seeded. They have scant 
pulp when ripe, and are eaten mostly by birds. Nearly always punctate and 
smooth, a few species have fruits which dry shallowly costate. The fruits of 
P. adenanthera (Miq.) Hook.f. are ferruginous-puberulent at first, and those of 
P. Schultesii Lundell are persistently pubescent. In so far as known all the others 
are without indument, except for occasional remnants at base of style. 
In Parathesis an understanding of the character of the pubescence is necessary. 
Where flowering material is not available, it is commonly the most practical 
feature of value in recognition of species. Distinctive types of pubescence are 
present and these are of sufficient significance to merit special attention. With 
the unaided eye, many species appear essentially glabrous, but with examination 
at magnifications from ten to twenty, very distinctive indument is discernible. 
The pubescence is persistent in most species. It is usually reddish or brownish. 
The modified hairs are mostly of two types, stellate and dendroid. The stellate 
may be sessile or stalked, short or long rayed, the rays either spreading or 
appressed. In P. vestita Lundell, the coarse hairs are either simple, long-stalked 
and bifid with short rays, or stellate. There are all degrees of modification of the 
stellate hairs, but within a species the types of stellate hairs are consistent to a 
high degree. In some instances, which I call stellate-lepidote, the hairs are 
scale-like but with short distinguishable rays. Only in P. glabra Donn.§m. are 
there inconspicuously appressed scales without evident rays. 
si al aa = 
