58 JO URN A L, BOMB A T NA TUBA L HISTOR Y SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



II.— FEMALE FLOWERS. 



Seated in the divisions of the male pedicels, " with their own pedicels 

 not articulated" (Roxb.). 



CALYX — as in the male flowers, but persistent. 



COROLLA — as in the male flowers, but more substantial, and dis- 

 tinctly companulate. 



Disk — not so well-marked as that of the male flowers. 



STYLES— 3 ; bifid or bi-lobed (A. de Jussieu); short. '< Connate 

 below or united in a slender column ; glabrous ' (Hooker). 



STIGMAS— 3 ; bifid, pubescent. 



OVARY. — 3-carpelled, each carpel containing one ovule ; superior - 

 " glabrous" says Hooker. Note that the ovary and styles are said to be 

 pubescent in Jatropha cuxcas of Wallich (Syu., — J. Wightianus), — 

 Hooker. It may be noted here that at times only one ovule, or two, 

 mature into seed. Very seldom have I seen the three ovules yielding 

 three seeds. But that the three ovules do so yield three seeds will 

 be seen from my illustrative plate accompanying this paper. The ovule 

 is pendulous from the inner angle of the central column. 



FRUIT — A tricoccous capsule ; oval, or globosely oblong ; 1 — 1£ 

 inch long ; f inch broad, or even 1 inch ; green when first formed ; 

 yellow when mature ; brownish or black when dry. Hooker says there 

 are 2 — 4 cocci, but 1 have never seen the fourth coccus. 



Exocabp — thick and succulent ; fully of milky or pellucid white 

 juice ; 2 lines thick. Black or brownish, and easily removable when 

 dry. 



Endocakp — " crustaceous or bony " says Hooker. 



SEEDS — \— | inch long; ■§ inch broad; oblong; laterally at- 

 tached about the middle of the cell, with a distinct white aril at the 

 hilum ; convex on the outer or dorsal side ; angular on the inner or ven- 

 tral side.* There is a well-marked ridge on the ventral surface 



(Dymock). 



Testa — smooth, black, crustaceous. 



" The lorka and legmen" says O'Shaughnessey, il are separable. 

 The internal tegmen is hard, brittle, with resinous and brownish frac- 

 ture ; the almond is white, foliaceous, covered with a thin white mem- 

 brane." This membrane is like tissue-paper and easily separable. 

 The almond is inodorous, of agreeable ta?te, but slightly acrid after 

 * Footnote. — O'Shaughnesscy's Bengal Dispensatory, p. 558, Calcutta, 1841. 



