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624 Pittier: Genus Monopteryx Spruce 



Among the plants collected by myself in Venezuela in 1913 

 there are specimens of flowers and fruits of a tree which un- 

 doubtedly belongs to Spruce's genus, but the study of this material"" 

 shows clearly that Bentham's characterization of Monopteryx 

 was drawn from immature flowers. It is indeed a very well- 

 known fact that in most, if not in all, papilionaceous flowers the 

 stamens are free in the bud. Moreover, the drawings of the 

 other floral details in the plate referred to above give an im- 

 pression of imperfect condition of the several parts, such as it is 

 found when dissecting undeveloped flowers. In my Venezuelan 

 specimens I found free stamens, sessile petals, etc. in alabastra 

 on the point of opening, but the mature flowers 

 (Fig. i) showed very different characters. 



In the calyx (Fig. 2, a) no traces of the 

 three inferior lobules are found, a detail which, 

 however, does not necessarily contradict the 

 observations made upon the other two species. 

 But the petals (Fig. 2,6), more than twice as long 

 as the calyx, are perfectly developed, the wings 

 and carinal petals having claws about 2.5 mm. long and well- 

 developed auricles. The ten stamens (Fig. 2, c) are united into 

 a tube 6 mm. long, slit only at the base, and ^ *K 



the carinal stamen is longer than the others; f^u 'j 



the anthers (Fig. 2, c', c"), bicuspidate at O^^ltf-?^^ 

 base and tip, are dorsifixed; the short-stipi- ^^0^^?^ 

 tate ovary (Fig. 2,d) is just as often two- as ^ it '%^ fi 

 one-ovulate; and the style is much more de- BsW 



veloped than the drawings in Bentham's plate i ^^^ 



would lead one to expect. \ ^^4» /i \ 



With reference to the fruit, there is a puz- 

 zling detail in the fact that Spruce stated that 

 oil and a cheese-like substance were extracted ,k 



from it. Considering the similarity in all J«imi Pittier. a Calyx 

 structural particulars of the flowers of the ^^^^^ °p^^- ''• P^t^^- '^■ 

 Venezuelan tree and those of the two species stamin^i tube split open. 



, , ^ . , ^ "^° c'. Stamen from the back. 



known heretofore, they must necessarily be c". stamen from the side. 

 considered as congeneric; but on the other '^■Pistil. All natural size, 

 hand it is not readily seen how the small seeds of the former 

 could attract the attention of the aborigines as an oil producer. 



