OF BALANOPHOREÆ. 35 
is å remarkable organ : from analogy with Balanophora, Helosis, and indeed the majority 
of the Order, it might be considered an imperfect perianth ; whereas in the hermaphrodite 
flowers it is seen to be a well-developed style, the ovary of which is usually suppressed. In 
these flowers the stamen rises from near the summit of the ovary, above the insertion of 
any of the perigonial scales, and the base of the filament is lodged in a narrow vertical 
canal immediately opposite the concave face of the style (figs. 3, 4 & 5). I have not 
been able to ascertain the position of the style and stamen with reference to the axis of 
the plant; but, considering the simple nature of the pistil, and that the flowers are 
collected in groups, representing theoretically ramifications of the infloreseence, I assume 
that the concave face of the style is opposite to the ideal axis of each such ramification. 
* In the youngest state of the male (fig. 6), the floral envelopes are often symmetrically 
disposed. A spathuläte palea subtends each flower, and within it are six perigonial scales ; 
these are frequently perfectly regular, and form a verticil round the rudimentary ovarium 
and filament: the whole flower afterwards grows with great rapidity, and some of the 
perigonial scales are left at its base, while others are carried up on the elongating imper- 
fect ovarium, which resembles a pedicel, and branching bundles of vessels are developed 
in their axes. The style at the same time elongates rapidly, but increases also in breadth 
upwards, so as to resemble a perigonial scale much more than the style of the female 
flower does; it has however no vascular tissue. In some male flowers all the perigonial 
Scales remain symmetrically disposed round the filament and style, till the flower has 
attained its full development. 
At the earliest period the female flowers (fig. 2) appear as compressed, pedicelled bodies, 
subtended by a bract similar to that of the males. The pedicel dilates, and divides into 
two (rarely three) linear perigonial leaves, and again contracts, forming the base of a com- 
pressed obovate ovary, on whose summit is the broad linear style, somewhat contracted 
immediately below the papillose stigma; and at its base are three other linear blunt peri- 
gonial leaves of equal size, which are always symmetrically disposed, two being placed 
right and left in the same plane as the style and the two lower perigonial leaves, and one 
at the dorsum of the style. Two vascular cords are seen, one on each side of the ovarium, 
meeting at its base in the pedicel, and again at its summit immediately at the base of the 
style, below which an opaque circular spot marks the cavity of the ovary; these vascular 
cords again separate in the style, and are free to its apex. The base of the style is con- 
tracted, and of a very dark colour at the contraction: I am not aware what this indicates. 
The opacity is also seen at the base of the filament in hermaphrodite flowers, and often 
upon all the perigonial scales, at a point exactly corresponding to the base of the style. 
During the growth of the female flowers, the perigonial scales do not attain the deve- 
lopment they do in the males, nor do they generally contain vascular bundles. They 
become variously displaced; some remaining on the summit of the ovary, and others 
being more or less basal, or adnate to its surface. In the adult female flower a small 
- cellular protuberance may often be seen on the summit of the ovary (fig. 7), fronting the 
concave face of the style: this may be a rudimentary stamen. = s 
The hermaphrodite flowers present both the pistil and stamen in as perfect a condition 
as they attain in the unisexual flowers. The situation of the perigonial scales varies as 
F2 
