allied to the Natural Order Burmanniaceæ. 547 
Cymbocarpa. It is from three to five inches in height, of a uniform whitish 
colour, but slightly tinged with purple. The root is composed of small fibres, 
close to which the stem divides, somewhat dichotomously, into several erect 
branches, which are sometimes flexuose; the leaves are alternate, sessile, 
acute, bractelike, and not quite so much adpressed as those of Dictyostega. 
The terminal solitary flowers are three-fourths of an inch long ; above the ova- 
rium the tube of the perianthium narrows into a long slender form, somewhat 
widening upwards, and the upper portion is suddenly enlarged to three times 
the diameter of the lower, and marked by three roundish oblong swellings a 
short distance beneath the petals: the perianthium is of a lilac colour, some- 
what darker below; the border being divided into six unequal erect teeth, of 
which the three outer are longer and more acute, the three inner ones (petals) 
being somewhat broader, more obtuse, and slightly mucronulate; they show 
the markings of the æstivation, as described in the generic character: the 
three hollow cavities corresponding with the external protuberances are fun- 
nel-shaped, and terminate acutely towards the base of the tube, the margin of 
their orifices being rounded and deeply notched in front, whence the stamens 
proceed: this saccate tube bears some resemblance to the small saccate fila- 
ments of Dictyostega and Burmannia, and may be supposed by analogy to 
constitute part of the stamen. The filament, which appears in the emargina- 
tion of the sac, is at first erect, short, round and slender, being somewhat 
swollen at its apex, where it is suddenly bifurcated, its arms being divaricated 
almost horizontally, and somewhat thrown back upon one another; at their 
origin they are no thicker than the simple portion of the filament, and are 
about the same length, but they gradually enlarge towards their summit, and 
terminate abruptly each by a single anther-cell, which is adnate to it by its 
back ; attached to the rear of the filament, and originating at its base, are 
two membranaceous winglike appendages, joined by their inner sides just 
above its bifurcation, and expanding to three times its length into a gibbous 
oblong body on each side, erect, and somewhat connivent in a direction cor- 
responding with the mouth of the sac: the whole stamen is of the same colour 
as the perianthium, but quite pale. The anther is of a pale yellowish-white, 
and bursts in a transverse direction, separating, as it were, its two lobes, 
and displaying the pollen in closely-packed cohering subcereaceous granular 
VOL. XVIII. 4c 
