OF BALANOPHORE^. 51 



recurvis. ' Capitula late oblongo-cylindracea v. ovoidea, filis articulatis densissime operta, e squamis 

 delapsis areolata. Floras masculi synemate solido triloculari (nempe antheris unilocularibus) cylin- 

 draceo, apice dehiscente, septis e strato duplici conflatis, exterioie cellulose, interiore floccoso albido 

 e fibris minutissimis implexis. Pollen globosutn, immaturum 3-nucleatum, maturum peripheria 

 hyalina, tuberculis 3 notata. Ovarium lineariobovatum compressum, perianthii labiis late ovatis, 

 stylis breviusculis recurvis. Fila articulata lincari-clavata simplicia v. varie coadunata. 



A very curious and peculiar-looking plant, of wbicli Mr. Pm*die has sent several spe- 

 cimens belonging possil)]y to two species, and differing remarkably in the amount and 

 disposition of tbe scales of tbe peduncle. These in small short specimens form a dense 

 mass between the rhizome and capitidam, are very numerous, closely packed, Inroad, 

 short and patent : in specimens 3-5 inches long, the scales are more loosely placed, linear- 

 oblong, adnate by a broad Imse, and those towards the capitulum are completely peltate 

 or sessile by the middle and lower part of the fiice of the scale ; the upper parts and base 

 being truncate, free, and slightly recurved : stUl larger and apparently old specimens 

 appear to have shed these scales altogether. The bracts on the capitula are much larger 

 than in Helosis, but are in an imperfect state upon tlie only specimen retaining them. 



The plants are evidently of annual duration, penetrating the last year's wood only, and 

 producing no injury in the layers below that. 



XI. PHYiiiOCOBTTsrE, Hook. fil. 



Rhizoma crassum, deforme, ramosum. PecluncuR crassi squamis hexastiche imbricatis tecti, superne tuber- 

 culis conicis densissime obsiti. Capitula androgyna, cylindracea, squamis imbricatis deciduis tecta : 

 filis articulatis densissime operta. Fl. S , Perianthiuni 3-lobum. Antherce 3 in capitulum 6-locuIare 

 apice dehiscens connatae. Fl. ? . Ovarium obovatum, compressum, calycis limbo bilabiato coronatum. 

 Fructus turgidus, utrinque truncatus. 



1. Phtllocoktne Jamaicensis. (Tab. XL) 



Cynomorium Jamaicense, Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. i. p. 11 ; Browne, Jam. p. 334. 

 Helosis Jamaicensis, A. Richard, Mem. Mus. viii. 432. 

 Scybalium} Jamaicense, Schott & Endl. Melet. p. 12. 



Hab. In sylvis savannisque Jamaicae {Swarts, Purdie, Wilson). Fl. Jan.-Jul. {Nom. vern. " John 

 Crow's nose.") 



Richard suggested the separation of this from Selosis, with which genus however it 

 entirely agrees in the structure of the flowers of both sexes, but differs remarkably in 

 habit, in the leafy peduncles, and imbricated bracts of the capitulum. Like its congeners, 

 it varies extremely in stature and in the relative siae of its organs ; old specimens form 

 subterranean masses a foot in diameter. 



The rhizome on a transverse section presents a thick, brown, cellular cortical layer, 

 formed of hexagonal cells full of starch-granules and chlorophyll, with occasionally masses 

 of sclerogen-cells. The axis is occupied by a slender column of cellular tissue forming a 

 true pith ; it is surrounded by a layer of long woody sclerogen-ceUs or tubes that pass 

 between the wood-wedges as medullary rays, and are there shorter and cubical. The 

 wood-wedges are about twenty, lanceolate (on the transverse section), symmetrically 

 disposed round the axis, and are composed of pale slender tubes, which are scalariform 



h2 



