OF BALANOPHORE^E. 57 



which probably represents a rudimentary ovary. The filaments are free just below 

 the anthers, to a greater or shorter distance, which varies in the individual species, 

 as does the length of the filaments. The anthers bui-st introrsely; they are fii'mly 

 united into an obtusely trigonous mass enclosing a central cavity ; each is 4-celled, the 

 mass consequently being originally 12-celled : the ceUs are shoAvn in a transverse section 

 to be disposed in two concentric series, of which the inner has much the smallest cells ; 

 generally the two rows become confluent. 



The female flower offers little worthy of notice, except the occasionally 3-lobed young 

 flowers, indicating three ovaria, as figui'cd in Tab. XVI. figs. 8, 9, 10 ; and the anomalous 

 membrane enveloping the terminal ceUs of the articulated threads in II. Mexlcana, which 

 is probably mucous, and may be the som'ce of the fluid which is said to bathe the capitula 

 of some species during flowering, and thus to facilitate the dispersion of the pollen. 



1. Helosis Gittanensis, Bich. M6m. Mus. viii. p. 416. t. 20 ; Martins, Nov. Gen. et Sp. 

 Plant. Bras. iii. p. 184, t. 300 & 208. fig. 2. 



Caldasia Cayennensis, Mutis, fid. Steud. 



Cynomorium Cayennense, Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. i. 13. 



Var. a. pedunculo elongate gracili, volva v. involucro ad basin pedunculi. 



Var. /3. pedunculo abbreviate, volva v. involucro ad basin pedunculi. H. Brasiliensis, Schott & Endl. 



Meletem. p. 12. 

 Var. 7. andicola, pedunculo brevi, volva v. involucro 4-6-fido infra capitulum sito. 

 Hab. Sylvis humidis Guiana, Richard ; Para, Martius, Spruce (Aug.-Dec.) ; Jamaica et Trinidad, Purdie 



(May 1848); Berbice, Schomburgk ; Pampas, Buenos Ay res, Miers. — ^Var. /9. Rio de Janeiro, ilfiers ; 



Serra d'Estrella, Brasiliae, Schott. — Var. 7. Vegas de Rio Quindiu, Goudot (in Herb. Webb, No. 140). 



This remarkable plant has been well described by Swartz, and again (with illustrations) 

 by the elder Eichard, and by Von Martius. It appears to be common in damp woods, 

 on the east coast of South America, ranging from Trinidad to south of the Equator. It 

 varies extremely in size, being from an inch to nearly a foot in height ; with slender or 

 robust pedimcles and rhizomes, and ovoid or subcylindrical capitula, which (according to 

 a drawing by Sir Robert Schombm'gk) are sometimes lobed or even deeply bifid at the 

 summit. Schott and Endlicher have made a species of the var. Brasiliensis, because of 

 its 3-lobed involucre and small size ; but the involucre is generally 3-lobed, and is 

 described as such in the Guiana species by Richard and Martius, and Miers's Brazilian 

 specimens have 5-6-lobed involucres. 



The rhizome creeps to great distances in spongy soil, forming adhesions with the roots 

 it encounters. A transverse section of Trinidad specimens displays an arrangement of 

 the tissues in several respects closely resembling that of many Menispermous plants. 



The axis, or position of the pith, is occupied by a cylinder of elongated, hard, woody, 

 cylindrical tubes, with very narrow, often interrupted cavities, and this sometimes siir- 

 rounds a central pith of loose hexagonal cells*. These tubes become broader and shorter 



* The occasional presence of a cellular pith within this woody axis is important, as it reduces the type to which 

 Langsdorffia belongs, which has no cellular pith, to that of most other Balanophorea. It is a curious fact, that in many 

 BalanophorefE the relation of the vascular system to the cellular is reversed, in respect of the latter being excessively 

 dense, hard and rigid, whilst the true woody system is composed of extremely lax, soft, thin-walled vessels, — of ducts, 

 in fact, with little or no pleurenchyma. 



VOL. XXII. I 



