BANCROFT ON THE HOG-rTU.M TREE OF JAMAICA. 143 



ofiP readily, leaving semilunar scars on the flower-bearing 

 tubercles of the twi«;s. 



Calyx inferior, somewhat bell-shaped, smooth, even, per- 

 sistent, of a greenish colour often passing into red; sepals 

 five, entire, equal, rounded, nerveless, veinless, thickened 

 and united at base, and quincuncially disposed, i. e. two sepals 

 being exterior, and two interior, while one side of the fifth 

 partially covers an interior one, and its other side is covered 

 by one of the exteriors. 



Corolla five-petaled, many times larger thati the calyx, 

 obovate in the bud, globular and not exceeding half-an inch 

 in diameter when expanded ; petals hypogynous, subcoriace- 

 ous, equal, concave, free, subemarginate, smooth, shining, 

 of a brigiit crimson colour, but paler on the inside ; aestiva- 

 tion contorted, each petal occupying three-fifths of the cir- 

 cumference of the corolla, and having two-thirds of its breadth 

 covered by the next one. 



Stamens a little longer than the corolla, and issuing above 

 it as a short cone, hypogynous; filaments united at their 

 lower half into a tube surrounding the ovary ; tube fleshy, 

 smooth, shining, at first white, afterwards crimson, closely 

 embraced at base by an annular disk, and divided from the 

 middle upwards into five equal, fleshy, lanceolate, connivent 

 rose-coloured fasciculi or adelphiae, that entirely cover the 

 style, and also the stigmas, with the exception of their tips; 

 each fasciculus being furnished with a keel on the inside, 

 which serves to connect three filaments into one adelphia, 

 but incised on the outside with two deep grooves, that extend 

 from the base of the anthers to its apex, and separate its ex- 

 ternal portion into three subdivisions, i. e* filaments, and 

 bearing on the lower part of its back (immediately above the 

 division of the tube into fasciculi,) three anthers, rarely 

 two, sessile each on .its corresponding filament. The anthers 

 are half the length of the fasciculi, and have likewise a keel 



• When the stamineous tube is held to the light and examined with a 

 lens, fibres are seen to descend within it, each corresponding with one of 

 the upper divisions or filaments of the fasciculi. 



