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THE GENUS RONDELETIA. 



[part I. 



rally considered to belong to this division of 

 Rubiacese, though its flowers bear more resem- 

 blance to those of Cinchona ; and the singular 

 plant called MusscBiida puhescens^ the flowers of 

 which are small and yellow, but the bracts are 

 so large and so brilliantly white as to look like 

 flowers ; Posoqueria versicolor, an ornamental 

 plant lately introduced, belong to this division. 



THE GENUS RONDELETIA AND ITS ALLIES. 



Rondeleiia odorata, sometimes called M. 

 coccinea, and sometimes R. speciosa, is a very 

 fragrant stove shrub, a native of Cuba. The 

 flowers are produced in corymbs, and their 

 botanical construction is 

 shown in the magnified 

 section Jig. 37. In this a 

 is the ovary inclosed in a 

 hairy calyx ; h shows the 

 limb of the calyx cut into 

 awl-shaped segments ; c 

 shows the manner in which 

 the very short filaments of 

 the anthers are inserted in 

 the throat of the corolla ; 

 d shows the termination of 

 the dilated receptacle which 



,, Fig. 37.— Sectiox of the 



lines the tube oi the corolla ; flower of KoNOiiLETiA. 

 and e the segments of the 



