THE HELIOTROPE FAMILY, 211 



(1) sliows a corolla laid open, revealiDg the scales, or 

 corona, in front of the petals, and the stamens alternat- 

 ing with the petal-lobes. (2) is the gamosepalous 

 five-toothed calyx. The pistil (3) is peculiar in having 

 the two-celled ovary deeply four-lobed, the style arising 

 from the bottom between the lobes. These when ripe 

 break up into four nutlets (4), each of the four seeds 

 being invested with one quarter of the pericarp. (5) 

 is one of the nutlets cut vertically to show the embryo, 

 {a) being a thickened ring round the point of attach- 

 ment. The large embryo is seen within, the radicle 

 being towards (h). 



Loboste'mon. — This is a genus of forty species dis- 

 persed through the Colony, and entirely South African. 

 They consist of herbs or shrubs, with scattered, 

 sessile, entire, and pointed leaves. The corolla is pink, 

 blue, or purple in colour, funnel-shaped, with a slight 

 tendency to be irregular. The stamens mostly project 

 beyond the corolla, or are eocerted, as it is called. 



Each filament has at the base a hairy-bordered 

 scale. The style is slightly inclined, or suh-dcclinate. 

 The nutlets are wrinkled. 



The flowers show the commencement of irregularity, 

 which is more pronounced in U'chium, in which the 

 stamens are decidedly decliuate, this position being 

 the best for insects to alight upon when searching for 

 honey, which is secreted by a gland, or disc, on the 

 receptacle just below the ovary. A peculiarity resides 



