MEMORANDUM BY DR. D. MACDONALD, M.D. 79 



and others have confirmed the statement of the elder Richard that 

 the seeds of at least some plants of the order contain an embryo, 

 which is minute, globular, and undivided. 



The Balanophoracese have been likened to fungi from their 

 appearance and mode of growth, but they differ from fungi in 

 consistence, anatomy, structure, slow mode of growth, aud in having 

 conspicuous male flowers. The parasitism of the plants is of such 

 a nature that there is some difficulty in making out where the tissues 

 of the host-plant end, and those of the parasite commences, as the 

 vascular tissue of the one is continuous with that of the other. 



The Balanophoraceaa are parasitic on the roots of trees, and are found 

 in the mountaius of tropical countries. Several species are found in 

 the Himalayas, and in the Khasya Hills, and eight or ten species are 

 stated by Griffiths to inhabit the Indian continent. One plant— -a 

 Balanophore — is mentioned in a list of plants in the N. W. as being 

 sold in the bazars under the native name of Gochamul ; and another 

 in Kashmir, or another name for the same plant, GargazmuL 

 But I am not aware of any Balanophors having been described as 

 found in the Bombay Presidency. 



A stringency is common to most plants of the order, and one 

 {Fungus melitensis) was known so far back as the time of the 

 Crusades, when it was used medicinally as a styptic. A few of the plants 

 are edible, one of which, known in Peru as Mountain Maize, grows 

 with wonderful rapidity after rain. In this plant it is not the rhizome, 

 but the scape, or flowering stalk, which is used. It is said to be eaten 

 like mushrooms, which it resembles in outward configuration. 

 Candles are made from a hydrocarbon obtained from a Java Bala- 

 nophor. 



The Mahableshwar plant is a Balanophor, and undoubtedly it 

 belongs to the tribe Eubalanophorese, as it is the only tribe of the seven 

 into which the order is divided m which the perianth of the staminate 

 flowers is four-lobed, and the stamens monadelphous. It is not 

 impossible that Mrs. Hart's paper may be the means of drawing 

 attention to any monograph or publication in which the plant is 

 described, if any exists. Should any member of the B. N. H. S. be 

 fortunate enough to produce another specimen of the same plant, it 

 would probably be best preserved in spirit. 



D. M, 



