682 Cynomoriaceae. 
flowers themselves. The upper flowers are usually males, their 
oblong anthers on very short filaments, protruding from the minute 
calyx and petals. The lower ones are female. very small, succeeded 
by small, nearly globular or slightly oblong capsules, each separating 
ultimately into 4 1-seeded carpels. — Flow. February to March. 
N. f. Birket-el-Qurin. 
Also known from Europe and Russian Asia, Syria to Persia. 
80. Cynomoriaceae. 
Parasitic herbs, with polygamous or dioecious flowers, crowded 
on a club-shaped spadix, with an imperfect or few-lobed perigonium, 
(ours) a single stamen, a l-celled ovary containing 1, pendulous 
ovule, the fruit containing seed which fills the cavity, and a minute 
lateral embryo, and oleaginous albumen. — Ovary inferior or semi- 
inferior. Fruit indehiscent, nut-like or somewhat drupe-like. 
A small family in the littoral Mediterranean region. 
376. Cynomorium Micheli. 
Flowers polygamous, mixed on the same spike, bracteolate at 
base. Staminate flowers. Divisions of perigonium 1—5, linear- 
spathulate; stamen solitary, posterior, with a cylindrical filament, a 
bilocular anther, the cells bilocellate; rudiment of ovary oblong-club- 
shaped, fitting into a gooove of the filament. Pistillate flowers. 
Divisions of perigonium 1—5, half superior, or superior, linear-club- 
shaped, adnate to ovary. Ovary sessile or somewhat stalked, ending 
in a grooved style and obtuse stigma, 1-celled, the single ovule 
suspended by a short funicle from the tip of the cell, hemitropous. 
Perfect flowers. Few, more or less imperfect, but fertile. Fruit 
nut-like, pericarp thin, somewhat leathery, connate to the testa. Seed 
nearly globular, embryo lateral, within the albumen. 
A small genus in the littoral Mediterranean region. 
971. Cynomorium coccineum L. Spec. Plant. I (1753), p. 1875. 
— Boiss. Flor. Or. I, p. 1072. — Ie. Rich. Mem. Mus. Paris Vol. VII 
tab. 21. — Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. @Eg., p.137 no. 955. — 
A perennial plant 10— 20 em high, or sometimes somewhat more, 
terete, 1,5 em thick, clothed with few, deciduous scales, ending in 
a club-shaped spadix, 2—3 em thick, and about 10 cm long. Cymes 
confluent, covering the surface of the spadix; primary bracts peltate, 
at first imbricated, then remote, at length deciduous; staminate 
flowers usually sessile in a common receptacle; pistillate and perfect 
flowers usually in cymes. — Flow. March to April. 
