79 



of the corolla, stamens and disk, so that unless you cut into 

 the very base of the ovary the cells may be overlooked ; it 

 has five cells, in each of which two ovules hang from the top 

 of an axile placenta, which is so attached to the partitions 

 that there is a clear opening from the hollow centre of the 

 style, over the ovules, into the cells of the ovary ; the ovules 

 are oblong, with a depression in the middle on each side, and 

 a foramen next the base, the nucleus being curved like 

 a horse-shoe, so that its base and apex are both nearly in 

 contact ; the style is 5-angled, or rather 5-winged, and ter- 

 minated by a table-shaped stigma, with five sides, five rays, 

 and a small elevation at each angle, which elevations are per- 

 haps the true stigmatic surfaces. 



The fruit, according to De Beauvois, is a soft spherical 

 berry, surmounted by the calyx, one-celled, many-seeded, the 

 seeds lying in a fleshy matter ; this is evidently incorrect. 

 Mr. Whitfield found it to be as large as a Pomegranate, and 

 very like one, containing a mucilaginous pulp which is 

 eatable, and a rind so full of tannin, that the natives make an 

 ink from it. 



The seeds (of which I have seen one, dead and without its 

 skin) are large amygdaloid bodies, kidne3r-shaped, and as 

 much as 1| inch long, with the taste (in that state) of a 

 Spanish chesnut, but with a bitter aftertaste ; at their con- 

 traction the plano-convex cotyledons hold together by an axis 

 whose radicle and plumule are both immersed in the substance 

 of the cotyledons. 



Such being the true structure of this plant, its generic 

 character may be stated thus. 



NAPOLEONA. 



{Palisot de Beauvois Jl. d'Oware et de Benin, vol^. p. ^9- 1- 78.) 



Cahjx adhserens, coriaceus, 5-fidus, sestivationc valvatus. 

 Corolla e verticillis tribus plicatis monopetalis constans, 

 quorum exterior maximus, 5-lobus reflexus, laciniis 7- 

 costatis dentibusque totidem crispis acuminatis; secundus 

 ascendens, annuliformis, alte multipartitus, laciniis line- 

 aribus acuminatis crispis ; tertius erectus, cyathiformis, 

 plicatus, margine multifido inflexo. Stamina QO, corollas 

 interioris basi inserta, serie simplici, basi irregulariter 



