AFFINITIES OF BALANOPHOREjE. 13 



tissues of Balanophorece are more uniform throughout the whole plant than in any other 

 vegetables in which so abundant and high a development of cytoblasts occurs, is inclined 

 to refer all Rhizanths to one class, which he woidd place amongst Acrogens, and near 

 Filices. I need scarcely say that these feeble analogies do not appear to me to be of the 

 smallest systematic value ; so long as they are unsupported by definite characters, and 

 that any such affiuity is negatived by every other point in their structure and deve- 

 lopment. 



The cuticle of Balanophorece never presents stomata, but is very simple ia its structure, 

 and formed of smaU cells, sometimes however of large vesicular ones, either isolated or 

 in groups ; as in ^. involucrata (Plate IV. figs. 7 & 16) : ia other specimens clusters of 

 bladdery cells form warts on the rhizome (fig. 16), which are arranged in lobed masses in 

 £. elongata and others. 



Hairs rarely occur on plants of this Order, though they are abundant on Langsdorffia 

 tomentosa, and found on the flowering stem of Thonningia : in both genera they are un- 

 branched, cylindrical, rather blunt tubes, with swollen and often bulbous bases, and more 

 or less rough surfaces, and have thin walls and a large continuous empty cavity. 



Sclerogen-cells, or clostera, abound in most of the species, and always present very 

 thick, woody, perforated walls : they are especially conspicuous ia the rhizome of Langs- 

 dorffia, in the cortical layer of that of Lophophi/tum, and in the leaf-scales of the latter 

 plant, in which they pass into the form of tubular vessels. 



Foliar orgaiis. — No species is whoUy deprived of these, though in some they are almost 

 absent, and ia others represented by scales on various parts of the plant ; rarely on the 

 rhizome, and most frequently on the capitulum, where they form more or less perfect 

 bracts. There is, however, no obvious law for their development. In Cynomorium and 

 Lophophytmn they occur on aU parts, from the rhizome to the apex of the capitulum. In 

 Langsdorffia, Thonningia, Balanophora, Scybalium, and Mystropetalon, they are more 

 or less highly developed on the peduncle, and very much reduced on the capitulum : in 

 Phijllocoryne, they clothe both the peduncle and capitulum : ia Sphcerorhizon, they occur 

 only at the base of the peduncle, on it, and on the capitulum : ia Helosis guyanensis they 

 cover the capitulum, but on the peduncle and at its base are reduced to a few small scales ; 

 whilst in H. mexicana, Rhopalocnemis, and Coryncea, they are almost confined to the 

 former organ. 



It hence appears that then- chief development is upwards ; the most rudimentary forms 

 occurriag on the rhizome at the base of the peduncle, where they compose the bud-scales ; 

 the most perfect on the capitulum, where they appear as bracts. 



The bud-scales are numerous and imbricatiag in Sphcerorhizon, and probably also in 

 Scybalium ; valvate in Langsdorffia and Helosis guyanensis ; reduced to a volva or ring 

 in Balanophora and Fhopalociicmis; and absolutely wanting ia Corynaa. In most of 

 the species the foliar organs are alternate ; but in several Balanophorce, in Langsdorffia, 

 and Selosis guyanensis, those of the peduncle are whorled, and together form a cup ; 

 while they are reduced to an obsolete ring in Helosis mexicana. 



Infiorescence. — The flowers are arranged in a uni- or bi-sexual spherical, oblong, cylin- 

 drical, or ovoid capitulum, in aU the genera except in those of Lophophyteos and in Sar- 



