56 



THE JOUENAL OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



Female flowers : — The surface colour of the peduncle is visible 

 here at the inter-spaces left uncovered by the rather thin spreading 

 of these female flowers all over the surface. The colour of the sur- 

 face of the peduncle as well as of the female flowers is dirty brown and 

 so the whole of this portion is brown in appearence. These female 

 flowers consist of only the carpels and there is no perianth. Carpels 

 are flexible and more or less bent ; sfcigma is 3-to 4-lobed. Three 

 lobed stigmas are common. Each lobe is conoid and its surface is 

 warty. The ovary is 3 to 4-cornered. 



NlALE Flower 

 Ftn/iALE Flowers ! 



Base OF Spathe 



J CORM 



Ovules:-— 11 the ovary is cut transversely we get 3 to 4 loculi 

 according to the number of stigmatic lobes, which are either 3 or 4. 

 So far as it was seen there was only one ovoid ovule per loculus. 



Tendency of the unisexual flowers to become hermaphrodite: — In 

 this specimen of the inflorescence there was one flower in which there 

 was one carpel surrounded by four yellow anthers. And this flower 

 was situated at the junction of the male and female flower bands. 



To a distant observer this inflorescence (with! the spathe removed) 

 appears to resemble a large fungus. 



