OF BALANOPHOREÆ. 41 
that it does not appear to be really parasitical; but in both these points I think these 
authors are mistaken. 
In Purdie's specimens of L. hypogea, which are immature, the female perianths 
adhere firmly, so that their tissues are torn in*sundering them. I have not found this to 
be the case in the Brazilian or Mexican specimens. The style varies exceedingly in 
length, as does the perianth of the female flower and its pedicel; the mouth of the 
perianth is obscurely lobed, and a few slender, straight, rigid, woody tubes traverse it 
longitudinally, as in Thonningia. 
In common with Richard and Von Martius, I have sought in vain for any traces of the 
cavity of the ovarium. For a knowledge of the fruit I am indebted to Prof. Liebmann’s 
invaluable communications, and to specimens given me by M. Weddell. The two 
former authors indeed hazard the supposition that all the specimens they examined were 
of a barren state of the species; to which, if such were the case, would have to be added 
upwards of fifty specimens examined by myself. Considering the extraordinary minute- 
ness of the seed, it seems safer to conclude that the cavity of the ovary being still smaller, 
sunk in the substance of the fleshy receptacle, and probably filled with the ovule, which 
adheres to the cavity, it has escaped observation*. The fruit-bearing receptacle is quite 
similar to that of Thonningia; it dilates greatly after flowering, causing the surrounding 
scales to spread horizontally; its surface is covered with the persistent fleshy conical 
perigonia, which adhere so closely that they may be removed in a body as a fleshy covering 
to the receptacle. Beneath each flower is a minute oblong seed, nidulating in the fleshy 
receptacle, and pendulous from the apex of a unilocular crustaceous putamen. The seed - 
is compressed, oblong, covered with a membranous coat, and has an evident raphe down 
one of the edges. The specimens I have examined are immature and had no discernible 
embryo, as were probably those examined by Liebmann, who describes the contents of the 
seed as a pulpy mass of globular cells. The clavate scales of the male capitulum appear 
to me to be undeveloped female flowers; and the small, hard, prominent, imbricating 
scales which surround the base of the female capitulum, are connate articulate filaments, 
analogous to those of Helosidee. ; 
This species yields so large a quantity of wax, that candles are made of it in New 
Grenada. The secretion is contained entirely in the cellular tissue, where it appears as a 
large opaque mass in every utricle. Mr. Purdie informs me that near Bogota the stems 
are collected, and sold in the markets under the name of Siejos, and used as candles on - 
saints’ days. 
* Since writing the above, I have examined some excellent flowering specimens of L. hypogea, which, though 
originally preserved in spirits and afterwards transferred to acid, have not turned brown; and in these I find unim- 
pregnated ovules. The perianths in these specimens adhere firmly throughout the upper two-thirds of their length, 
but their cylindrical bases, though densely packed, are quite free. Their substance is very loosely cellular and 
diaphanous, and a dark spot immediately above the insertion of the flower on to the fleshy capitulum, marks the 
position of the excessively minute ovarian cayity and ovule. Owing to the extreme minuteness and laxity of the 
cellular tissue of the ovary, I had great difficulty in opening it and dissecting out the ovule, which forms a pen- 
dulous globular transparent sac, consisting of a few loosely packed nucleated cells, enclosed in a membrane of ex- 
cessive tenuity. This ovule is the most minute that I have met with in the vegetable kingdom. I further found 
pollen-tubes in the style of some flowers, traversing a conducting tissue formed of long, soft, lax, tubular cells in the 
axis of the style.—Kew, March 4, 1856. 
VOL. XXII. G 
