362 TRtANDRiA TRiGYNTA. Houttuyiiia. 



on the angles of their ovarium, a little above its base. — Anthers erect, 

 oblong, two-celled, bursting lengthways along their margins. — Ova- 

 rium round, three-cornered, most slightly pubescent, one-celled, ma- 

 ny-seeded; ovula attached to the sides of the cavity. Stj/les three, 

 persistent, rising from the apex of the angles on the ovarium, above 

 the insertion of the tilaments, leaving its vertex naked and somewhat 

 depressed; they are spreading awl-shaped, acute, marked along the 

 upper part and t!ie furrowed uiside (the stigmas?) with numerous 

 short papillae. — Capsule about tlie size of a mustard seed, brownish 

 green, of ihe same shape as the ovarium, membranaceous and uni- 

 locular, bursting at the top, with a triangular opening reaching half 

 way up the styles. — Seeds about eight, brown, smooth, striated, ob- 

 long, acute at each end, somewhat darker coloured at their bases, 

 which are attached to three parietal, oblong, elevated placentae al- 

 ternating with the angles of the cavity. hdegnment single, crusta- 

 ceous. Embryo minute, lodged in a copious milk-white, mealy 

 perisperm, towards the umbilicus, ceiitiifugal. 



Obs. In the numerous spadices which I have examined I have 

 v.ith Father Loureiro invariably found three stamina and as many 

 styles attached to each cvaiium, the former above the base, the lat- 

 ter at the ai)ex of its angles ; I have therfct'ore not hesitated continu- 

 inn- this most interesting plant in the very class and order where it 

 has been placed in the flora of Cothinchina. As there is no reason 

 for considering it at all different from the original Japan plant I arn 

 at a loss to account for the difficulty which the celebrated Chevalier 

 Thunberg experienced in determining its station in the sexual sys- 

 tem ; nor can there at present be any doubt of its neither belonging 

 to Heptandria, Polyandria, or Monoecia. 



The seeds are so small and their embryo proportionably minute 

 that I have not been able to ascertain the structure of the latter ; 

 they appear to me however, to bear great resemblance to tho.se of 

 Tacca and Aristolochiae, to which family the plant is still further al- 

 lied by the epigynous insertion of the stamens. But its chief 

 affinity seems to be to the Aroidea, forming an additional con- 

 necting link between the two HKniioned families. The leaves are 



