399 



20 cm.; they are developed during the same year as the rhi- 

 zome upon which they occur. The arrangement of the leaves 

 is two-rowed; they are long-stalked, reniform and tripartite 

 with 3 — 5 broad shallowly-lobed segments, 



usually only the principal bud develops. The first inter- 

 node of the shoot is quite short, and the first leaf is dorso- 

 lateral; the following internodes are elongated. The end of 

 the shoot terminates in a hook formed by an unexpanded 

 revolute leaf, the sheath of which surrounds the apex of the 

 stem. This apex, in herbarium-specimens, is often seen directed 

 obliquely downward. The horizontal rhizome may attain a length 

 of as much as about 22 cm. In many of the individuals which 

 I have had for examination the erect or ascending main and 

 flowering axis bore a barren leaf (Fig. 41) ; Hooker (1. c), records 

 that in America this is the case only in specimens from the 

 coast: this leaf is placed either high up upon the axis and 

 is then bract-like, or else lower down and has then the form 

 of the leaves upon the rhizome. The internode of this leaf is 

 usually ascending and its anatomical structure is then similar 

 to that of the flower-stalk; more rarely it is prostrate and 

 similar in structure to the rhizome, roots being produced at the 

 node. During fruit-setting the vertical axis elongates greatly 

 (and reaches as much as about 16 cm.). 



The flower has three green perigone-leaves which are 

 somewhat downwardly bent in older flowers, and about seven 

 nectary-leaves which are Ficaria-y eUow in colour and glisten 

 as with varnish and are only slightly longer than the perigone- 

 leaves. The stamens are turned partly laterally and partly out- 

 wards. The ovaries are oval and somewhat flattened with a long 

 hooked beak. The nectaries are simple and pocket-shaped 

 (Fig. 42). 



According to Warming's notes (Sarfanguak, 14. 7. 84) the 

 carpels and the stamens ripen simultaneously, and as the latter 

 stand closely against the former, self-pollination must easily 



26* 



