4.26 DR. J. D. HOOKER ON A NEW GENUS OF BALANOPHORE^ 



The most remarkable character of Dactylanthua is its inflorescence, which, instead of 

 presenting the solitary capituliim or spadix of most of its allies, or the branched cha- 

 racter of Sarcophyte, consists of numerous erect spadices, densely covered with flowers. 

 Of these the males consist of a solitary stamen, not articulate with the spadix, and without 

 any trace of perianth, and hence present by far the most reduced form of male flower ia 

 the Order. The female spadices present a crinite appearance from the long flexuose styles 

 of the flowers. The oA'ary appears to be compressed, fvu'uished with a short thick stipes, 

 and its upper part is contracted into a short thick neck, apparently consisting of the tube 

 of the perianth connate with the base of the style : this contracted part varies much in 

 width and breadth, and sometimes appears as if reduced to the adnate bases of the subu- 

 late lobes of the perianth. 



I have not been able to ascertain the nature either of the contents of the ovary, which 

 is extremely minute, and crumbles into black powder on being touched, or of the tissues 

 of the rhizome and peduncle, which do not seem to differ materially from those of other 

 Balaiiophorece. 



The position of Dactylmithiis is amongst my first group of Balanophorecs, the Mono- 

 styli ; but in many respects it partakes of the structure of various genera of Distyli, and 

 is not very nearly related to any described genus. In habit it presents the rhizome of 

 Bala)iophora. In the male flowers reduced to a solitary stamen, it agrees with Lopho- 

 phytum and Thonningia, and in the subulate perianth-lobes of the female flower with 

 Cynomorium. Upon the whole it may perhaps rank nearest to Thonningia, with which it 

 agrees in habit, in some points of structure of the female flower, especially in the tube of 

 the perianth being connate with the style above the ovary, in the absence of imperfect 

 flowers amongst the females, of bracts, and of a perianth to the male flower. 



The natives of New Zealand call this plant " Flower of Hades," because it grows almost 

 buried in the soil; they further consider it allied to Freycinetia, which it strikingly 

 resembles in the inflorescence. 



Mr. Taylor informs me that he has heard vaguely of the existence of another species 

 with blue flowers in the forests of Mount Egmont. 



2. BAiiANOPHORA Harlandi, H. f. Dioica, rhizomate parvo lobato epustulato, pedunculo 



ima basi bracteis subfoliaceis involucrato, capitulo globose, floribus foemineis capitulo 



sessilibus. (Tab. LXXV. B.) 

 Hab. Sylvis insulae Hongkong [Harland) ; in convalle Mont. Gough (C. Wilford, Dec. 1858). 

 Species pusilla, 1-3 poUicaris, ab omnibus difFert pedunculo basi tantum squamato ; et praeterea a 



B. dioica, capitulo globoso, et rhizomate epustulato ; a B.funyosa capitulo unisexuali globoso, floribus 



foemineis capitulo (non pedicello bracteolae) sessilibus. 



3. BAiiANOPHORA Lowii, H. f. Dioica, rhizomate parvo papilloso et pustulate, pedun- 



culo brevi, squamis inferioribus parvis, superioribus magnis numerosis imbricatis 

 concavis capitulum velantibus, capitulo fl. i oblongo, receptaculo columnari, peri- 

 anthio 4-fldo, lobis lateralibus angustioribus, (Tab. LXXV. C.) 

 Hab. Sylvis umbrosis montis Kina Balou, insulae Borneo [H. Low). 



