GENtJS ' MYSTROFETALON ITAKV. (rALANOPHORACE.T-:) . 285 



The questien arises, what is to be the name of the species ? 

 Ecklon and Zeyher distributed the plant as Balanophora cafensis 

 before Harvey had j)nbHshed his names, but as the authors did 

 not attach any description to their chstribution this name is not 

 vaHd. 



In 1849 P''esl (Prague) examined a plant which consisted 

 only of the fruiting part of the spike, and considered the plant to 

 be dioecious. On the strength of his observation he thought it to 

 be generically distinct from Myslropctaloii and named it Ble- 

 pharochlaviyo capcnsis, adopting Zeyher's specific MSS. name. 

 Eichler {loc. cli., 125) surmises that the withered male portion of 

 Presl's plant liad fallen ofif, and thus deceived the author. This 

 need not have been the case, for several good-sized and fully deve- 

 loped specimens in my herbarium are entirely female, the apex 

 being acute, and not rounded and ol)tuse as in normal i^lants. 



Under the circumstances the species must l)ear one of Harvey's 

 names, and as M. Tlwuiii stands first, we have to adopt this, the 

 other two names becoming" synomyms. 



As the morphology and anatomy of thallus and shoot have 

 been fully dealt with by Harvey-Gibson, and as a detailed descrip- 

 tion of leaves and flowers is contained in the preceeding pages, 

 there is no need for giving a full description of the species here, 

 but I take this opportunity to add a few remarks in order to fill 

 up some gaps in former accounts. 



^wa^om3'.-Harvey-Gibson speaks of a peculiar brown granular 

 deposit found in the tissues of all the organs of the plant, and 

 names this substance " mystrin." Having never noticed this 

 substance in the cells on former occasions (fresh material;, it 

 occurred to me that this so-called mystrin nu"ght have been j^ro- 

 duced by the preserving fluid (formaldehyde). This surmise was 

 foimd to be correct, for the contents of the cells of fresh plants 

 (shoot, leaves, bracts) are colourless, and the cell walls yellow or 

 brown. By placing pieces of the plant into dilute formaldehyde, 

 one coagtilates the protoplasm of the cells, and this becomes dark 

 brown in course of time. On the other hand, the cells of the fresh 

 plant, as well-dried pieces or pieces preserved in alcohol show 

 ntnnerous starch grains similar to those of wheat, bttt much 

 smaller and with a large nucleus. 



Male Flower. — Colour. — There are nearly always three 

 colours i)resent. The claws are generally yellow, the base of the 

 spoon-shaped blades is carmine, and the blade itself dark claret 

 colour. Occasionally the carmine colotir extends to the claws, and 

 such plants look nuich darker ; in other cases the claws are yellow^ 

 but the blade itself is carmine, the tip only being darker — such 

 plants appear much brighter. 



Pollen. — This is always white and hmipy, the grains cubical, 

 but usually mixed with some pentagonal, or hexagonal, and more 

 rarely also tetrahedral grains. 



.'eutale Flower. — Anterior bract. At flowering time always 



