500 MONOECIA MONANDRIA. Avuni. 



I have not fuiiiid any of the small bulbs so common in A. Iti- 

 dicum, which this species resembles so much. Stem, simple, 

 straight, as thick as a man's arm, height of the stem in two 

 years about two feet, marked with the circular cicatrices of 

 the fallen leaves ; height of the whole plant, to the top of the 

 leaves, from six to eight feet. Leaves, cauline petioled, ovate, 

 cordate, <;loven at the base ; apex obtuse with an incurved 

 point, lobes rounded ; margins somewhat waved, polished on 

 both sides ;n7> and vein large and elevated underneath ; from 

 two to four feet long, by two or three broad. Petioles from 

 two to three feet long, the lower half sheathing ; the upper 

 part sub-cylindric, smooth, polished, of an uniform green in 

 every part. Peduncles axillary, intermixed with somespathi- 

 form bractes, nearly round, rather shorter than the petioles, 

 one-flowered, regularly two in each axill. Spathe erect, the 

 lower part thick, gibbous, convolute and permanent; the ex- 

 terior portion boat-shaped with a short acute apex, both sides 

 smooth and of a' pale green colour, this portion drops soon 

 after flowering time, while the lower portion remains till 

 the seeds are ripe. Spadix nearly as long as the spathe, sub- 

 cylindric, club about one third part the length of the Avhole 

 spadix. Nectaries, many flat, rhombiform glands on the con- 

 tracted part of the spadix, between the germ and the spa- 

 dix. Anthers numerous, rhombiform, with ten or twelve pol- 

 liniferous ones round the margin cells, these open by a slit on 

 the outside of their apices. Germs numerous on the conic 

 base of the spadix, four-celled, with two or three ovula in 

 each attached to the bottom of the cell. Style none. Sliyma, 

 roundish. Berry numerous, size of a small cherry, shape 

 more or less round according to the number of seeds, smooth, 

 of a shining scarlet, one-celled, the growth of the seeds having 

 destroyed every vestige of the partitions which were present 

 in the germ. Seeds generally from one to four, roundish, 

 smooth. Inteyument single, in the recent state soft and spon- 

 gy. Perisperm conform to the seed, cartilaginous. Embryo 

 simple, obconical, with the obtuse end close to the apex of 

 the seed and there not covered by the perisperm. 



