28 GARDNER ON CARLUDOVICA, &c. 
one of 4 sepals. Lindley in his Natural System, adopts the - 
character of the tribe to which it belongs—Cyclanthacee, from 
Schott, who considers the whole order moncecious or poly- 
gamous, with the male and female flowers arranged alternately 
in spires. Nothing, however, can be more certain than that - 
the flowers are hermaphrodite, and destitute of floral enve- . 
lopes in the species which I have examined, and from which 
the following note was made :— Spatha 4-leaved. Spadix cy- 
lindrical, densely floriferous. Flowers hermaphrodite, desti- 
tute of floral envelopes, spirally arranged. Stamens numer- 
ous, borne upon four flat membranous bodies (longer than 
the ovarium) and which arise from a narrow membrane that 
surrounds the superior part of it. Anthers 2-celled. Ovarium — 
inferior, 1-celled, crowned by a concave cruciform body which 
seems to be an operculum, for it has no connexion with the- 
internal economy of the ovary. Styles 4, long, flattened 
above, deciduous, attached by their base to the inside of four — 
broad obtuse fleshy scales, which are situated above the ova-- 
rium, and immediately before each bundle of stamens. Stig- 
mas small, 2-lobed, turned downwards so as to give the tops 
of the styles a hooked appearance. Fruit a fleshy quadran- 
gular, l-celled berry, crowned by the persistent scales and- 
cruciform organ already mentioned. Seeds numerous, small, 
flat, attached horizontally to four parallel placente, which 
. are protruded inwards so as to give them the appearance of 
being free, and nidulating in a glutinous pulp. Inflorescence 
axillary. : 
(In the view Mr Gardner has been led to take of the character of this 
genus, be has considered the four separate scales bearing stamens, which 
he finds to surround each female flower, as belonging to that flower, con- 
sequently as affording an example of hermaphrodite blossoms ; but if we 
look carefully into the structure of these male scales, it will be more cor- 
rect to consider them as separate male flowers :—for although they are 
flat and membranaceous below, they expand upwards into a cup-shaped 
perianth, the edge being fringed with stamens (those at the back, or the 
edge not directed to the pistil, reduced to abortive glands), and within 
having 2 or 3 series of stamens. The filaments are short ; anthers oblong, 
2-celled ; cells opening at the two opposite margins; this edge of the cup is 
