43$ TETRANDIUA MONOGYNTA. PotllOS. 



ing the spathe; colour a pale greenish yellow, dotted with 

 the dark-coloured stigmas of the numerous fructification 

 which every where covered it. Perianth none. Corol none. 

 Filaments ; I conclude there are about eight to each germ, 

 two on each face; but the want of both perianth and corol, 

 renders it difficult to assign the exact number of stamens to 

 each floret, they are very short, and seem inserted on the base 

 ofthefferm. Anthers sub sagittate, four-lobed. Germ nu- 

 merous, parallelopiped, truncate, vertically attached to, mid 

 completely covering every part of the common cylimlric re- 

 ceptacle, one celled, with one seed attached in an oblique 

 manner to the bottom of the cell. The substance of the germ 

 is replete with rigid, sharp, vertical bristles, which are readi- 

 ly detached, and stick in the skin, causing pain and itching. 

 The virtue of the drug may reside in these, as it does in the 

 short stiff hairs of the legumes of Carpopogon pmriens. Stifle 

 none. Stigma, a channel filled with gelatinous matter, run- 

 ning from the cell of the germ to the centre of the truncate 

 apex, where it ends in a small slit, embraced by two darker- 

 coloured, somew hat callous lips. Pericarps ( capsules circum- 

 scissa?), as numerous as the germs, and of the same form, 

 only larger; a few only are fertile, of a soft fleshy texture, 

 one-celled, one-valved ; when the fruit is ripe they detach 

 themselves from the receptacle, and drop off", leaving the seed 

 behind still attached to it. Seed single, ovate-cordate, some- 

 what two lobed, covered at the base with a thin, red, succu- 

 lent aril. Integuments two, exclusive of the aril ; exterior pale 

 yellow, polished, thin, hard, and elastic; inner membranace- 

 ous. Perisperm none. Embryo uncinate, white, very succu- 

 lent. Radicle inferior, thickened, and in other respects ex- 

 actly as in Giertner's figures of Potamagcton natans, vol. ii. 



p. 23. t. 84. 



Obs. The plant described by Sir William Jones by the 

 name of Guj peepul, (See Asiatic Researches, vol. i v. p. 30:}.) 

 is my Tetranthera apetala. lie however observes, that it was 

 from a native gardener he obtained the Sanscrit name of his 



