44 DR. J. D. HOOKER ON THE GENERA AND SPECIES 



of one or two rigid, stout, cylindrical, yellow tubes of sclerogen, with blunt apices ; their 

 walls arc transparent, but extremely thick, and they are sometimes solid in places ; they 

 entirely resemble the woody tissue commonly developed in other parts of Langsdorffia 

 and Uelosis. The style is very long, filiform, and continuously papillose along the 

 exserted portion. I have not seen the seeds, which occupy a vei'y minute cavity in the 

 base of the columnar ovary, and are said to be sunk in the rccejitacle. The latter expands 

 considerably after flowering, when the scales fall away from the flowering branch, and the 

 latter tm-ns black, and probably decays. 



I know notliing of the parasitism of Thonningia ; the rhizome is bro^na, slender, 

 smooth, and sparingly branched, and rises into an obscixre cup round the base of the 

 jieduncle, which is clothed with bright red scales. I find no bail's upon the rhizome, as 

 is the case with Langsdorffia, but there are small woolly tufts at the bases of the leaves, 

 on the stem. The hairs ai'c simple, long, inarticulate, flexuose, broad at the very base, 

 rough on the surface, and with a very large contiuvious cavity. 



VI. Balanophoea, Forst. 

 1. Balanophora involtjcrata {supra, p. 30). 



Var. a. rubra, pedunculis et capitulis rubris, capitulis ovoideis bisexualibus (Tab. IV., V. & VI.). 



Var. p.fava, pedunculis et capitulis stramineis v. flavis, capitulis unisexualibus rarius bisexualibus. 



Var. 7. gracilis, peduuculis elongatis gracilibus capitulisque flavis, capitulis unisexualibus parvis 

 (Tab. VII. A.). 



Var. S. Cathcartii, pedunculis robustis capitulisque albis roseisve, capitulis unisexualibus (Tab. VII. B.). 



Hab. In Himalayas temperatae sylvis humidis ; Sikkim, alt. 7-9000 ped. (/. D. H.) Simla, alt. 6000 ped. 

 (Thomnon) (fl. Jul.). 



Rhizoma 2-6 unc. latum, pustulis parvis cellulosis asperum, varie lobatum, nodos .3-4 poll. diam. radicibus 

 Aceris et Querc4s efficiens. Pedunculi graciles v. crassi, breves v. elongati, medio involucrati, interdiim 

 compressi v. fasciati. Capituluni ovoidcum v. globosum, rarius depresso-globosum ; <? profunda 

 alveolatum. Flores 3 2-5-meri, plerumque 3-meri. Antherte tot quot lobi perianthii synemate brevi 

 sessiles, transverse oblongje, superne rima transversa dehiscentes. Fl. $ capitulo sessiles v. circa 

 basin bracteoloe clavatas aggregati. 



Tlie extreme varieties which I have here included under one species are so very dis- 

 similar, that no one who had not seen large suites of specimens, presenting every inter- 

 mediate form between them, could venture to unite tliem under one : as it is, I foimd that 

 neither colour, form, nor the sexuality of the capitula are constant characters. In the same 

 woods wherein I gathered the var. gracilis growing upon roots of oak, I also gathered var. 

 flava growing on those of an Araliaceous shrub, and differing from the var. gracilis only 

 in its more robust habit. In general there is a greater tendency in the female capitula 

 to bear male flowers than in the males to produce female ; for though I often met with 

 female capitula liearing male flowers at their base, and sometimes at their summit, and 

 occupying a considerable portion of the surface, I never found male capitvila to bear any 

 but very rudimentary female flowers scattered along the edges of the alveoli in which the 

 lower part of the male perianth is sunk. 



The present is the most alpine species of the genus known to me, and is common in 

 Sikkim at 8000 to 10,000 feet elevation. I have found it on the exposed aerial rootlets of 



