32 DR. J. D. HOOKER ON THE GENERA AND SPECIES 
the embryo, which is pale, transparent, and formed of minute cohering cells, and - 
is not oleaginous. The apex of the stigma is obscurely 3-lobed: there is no very | 
distinet stigmatic canal; but the cells of the stigma and centre of the style are soft and | 
pulpy. | | | 
Griffith, who did not detect the embryo of this plant, considered that this albumen 
(which he describes doubtfully as an embryo) suggests a greater resemblance to a sporu- å 
_liferous mass than is shown by any other so-called Rhizanth : it is remarkable that this « 
observation should refer to one of the only three known plants of the Order, of which the — 
truly albuminous nature of the great mass of the seed is indisputable; and is an example 
of the inexpediency of assuming an organ to be anomalous because its structure is 
unexplained. 
The inflorescence of Mystropetalon differs from that of other Balanophoree in the male | 
flowers being at the summit of the capitulum, and the female below. In the monæcious - 
Qynomorium and most monccious Helosideæ they are promiscuously mixed, with the 
males generally lowest; in moncecious Balanophoree the males are normally at the — 
bottom of the capitulum; though I have seen traces of male flowers at the apex of å — 
capitulum of B. involucrata. 1 
Mystropetalon is certainly in all respects the most highly developed genus of the Order, » 
both from the complexity of the floral envelopes, and from the presence of a perfect embryo, 1 
placed in the usual position of that organ in Phænogamous plants. It was referred to — 
Balanophoreæ by Harvey and by Mr. Brown (Linn. Soc. Trans. xix. p. 233, in note*); and — 
though very anomalous in its greater perfection, must remain as a section of that Order, - 
or in close proximity to it. Griffith considered it as sui ordinis, but with great sagacity — 
indicates its affinity with Cynomorium (a plant he had not examined), and finally described ; 
it (doubtfully) as the homogeneous-embryo form of a group of plants including Loran- | 
thacee, Proteacee, Santalaceæ, and other Orders comprehended in Lindley’s alliance à 
Tubiferose. Considering the very great structural and morphological differences pre- - 
sented by Balanophoree, it becomes impossible to exclude Mystropetalon from the Order; 
of its affinity with which there are many positive evidences, and the curious negative one | 
of extreme dissimilarity between the perianths of the sexes. Of positive characters, 1 
the most conspicuous besides habit, are, in the male flowers, the valvate 3-partite 1 
perianth, tubular below, and enclosing a rudimentary ovarium, the stamens opposite the - 
segments of the perianth, and the extrorse anthers; in the female flowers, the epigynous 
monosepalous perianth, the deciduous style, the structure of the walls of the ovary, the : 
extreme simplicity of the ovule, and the adherent membranous coat of the seed. It - 
departs from all the rest of the Order in its male flowers being normally above the female; 
in its very unequal male perianth, its frequently imperfect odd stamen, and angular pollen; | 
in the ovarian disc, deciduous perfect female perianth, 3-lobed stigma, presence of an im- - 
perfect pistil in the male flower, and axile clavate embryo. Considering its monostylous - 
ovary, with a tubular perianth, its nearest ally would appear to be Langsdorffia, between — 
Which and. Cynomorium it will rank in a linear series. ; 
* The species there referred to does not appear to me to be specifically distinct from M. Thomii. 
