o 



AFFINITIES OF BALANOPHORE^. 15 



scales; in Rhopalocnemis it is tubular; ia Sphcsrorhizon and Corijncea it is tubular 

 below and campanulate above ; in Helosw, Scybalium, and Sarcophyte it is tubular below, 

 with three valvate segments ; in Balmiop)hora solid below, Avith three to eight valvate 

 segments ; in Mystropetalon it is irregular and oblique, of one free and two combined 

 pieces, all valvate, and forming a tube below. The aestivation of the perianth is inva- 

 riably valvate. 



In the female flowers of aU the genera but Cynomorium, the perianth differs very 

 widely iadeed from that of the male ; as much so as in any Natural Order of plants. It is 

 generally far less highly developed than the male, though more so in Lophophytece and 

 Thonn'mgia. It is assumed to be more or less adherent vdi\\ the ovary ia all the genera, but 

 is perhaps totally suppressed in Balanophora, which presents the simplest possible form of 

 female flower. In Sarcophyte the ovaries are immersed in a fleshy perianth, and all cohere 

 into a solid capitulum. All the Distyli have two confluent ovaria, forming a one- or rarely 

 two-celled pistil, and crowned by a two-lipped perianth ; except in the case oi Lophophytece, 

 in Avhich the limb is truncate or suppressed. In Cyno)iM)-wm the six pieces of the 

 perianth adhere to the ovary at irregular heights, being rarely wholly superior or wholly 

 inferior. Thonningia and Langsdorffia have slender tubular perianths, which are solid 

 below, and bear at then- very base a small ovule, which is sunt in the fleshy capitulum : 

 in the latter of these genera the female perianth much resembles the male, and its mouth 

 is sometimes swoUen and obscurely three-lobed. The female flower of Mystropetalon 

 departs widely from the general type of the Order : the spherical ovary is seated on an 

 oblate disc, and crowned by a small, campanulate, three-lobed, deciduous perianth, which 

 may either be considered as the articulate free limb of the adherent calyx, or as a corolla. 

 Analogy with Kaloragece, Riibiacece, Compositm, &c., suggests the latter explanation, 

 which however is opposed to the fact of there being no double perianth in the male 

 flowers of this genus, or in any other plant of the Order. 



Stamina. — The diversity of form so conspicuous in the perianth of diff'erent genera of 

 Balanophorece is shared by the male organs, which agree in no point save the production 

 of poUen. In Lophophytece the stamen is of the normal form, but only two ia each 

 flower, and without any other perianth than two mamiUse : the stamens have a very short 

 filament and a long linear anther. In Cynomorium the stamen is solitary and of the usual 

 form, but surrounded by a perianth, and subtended by a rudimentary style : ia herm- 

 aphi'odite flowers it is epigynous, and the filament is stout, attached to the anther by a 

 very smaU point, and the anther is iatrorse. Mystropetalon preseats the next modification, 

 having three free stamens, each opposite a division of the perianth, and behig similar 

 to that of Cynomorium, but with an extrorse anther. Sarcophyte has three free stamens, 

 opposite the valves of the perianth ; they have fleshy filaments and adnate subspherical 

 capitate anthers, full of poUiniferous cavities. In all the remaining genera, viz. those of 

 llelosidece, Thonningia, Langsdorffia, and Balanophora, the stamens are opposite the lobes 

 of the perianth ; they are usually three in ntunber, but vary ra this respect ; and are more 

 or less confluent, both by their filaments and anthers. The dehiscence varies extremely, as 

 does the nmnbcr of cells. In all the species oi Balanophora, Langsdorffia, and Thonningia, 

 the anthers bm-st extrorsely, and have two or more loculi, which are confluent or anfrac- 



