402 Boeurg on the Histology and 
show contents that take up stain, strongly suggesting muci- 
lage. This layer is in every respect like the loose parenchyma 
of the leaf, and the one external to it like the palisade layer 
of the leaf. The endodermis is a sharply marked row of 
empty, brick-shaped cells. 
The receptacular tube is fused with the fruit proper only 
at the lower end by an irregular growth of small cells from 
the one into the other. 
The fruit and seed have been thus described by Bentham :* 
“Fruit drupaceous, completely enclosed in the enlarged 
persistent and succulent perianth tube, usually crowned by 
the small persistent segments. Seed with a membranous 
testa. Embryo with thick fleshy cotyledons, distinct at an 
early stage, but completely consolidated when ripe, assuming 
the appearance of a fleshy albumen, at the base of which the 
plumula simulates the embryo.” 
The fruit shows an external layer or epicarp of brick- 
shaped cells, each with a faint nucleus and protoplasm (5). 
Within this are five to seven layers of thin-walled cells, the 
mesocarp, containing starch grains and chloroplasts (6). 
Internal to the last is a layer of shallow, greatly indurated 
cells, which in exact morphology should be regarded as the 
innermost of the mesocarp layers (7). It consists of a con- 
tinuous line of square cells, clear-looking, with large round 
nuclei. As the fruit ripens, these remain unchanged below, 
and are distinguished from the more external parts by their 
regular and small size. Above the thickest part of the inner 
layer they rather suddenly elongate, narrow out and become 
filled with cellulose, the nuclei becoming obscure, until a cap 
forms over the top of the seed. 
The remaining layer (8), from an early stage, is some- 
what broader than the preceding. In the young state its 
cells are cubical and thin-walled in the basal portion of the 
fruit, with large round nuclei. Toward the upper end they 
become narrower, deep-yellowish, with thickening, and show 
elongated nuclei. With maturity this elongation and thick- 
* Flora Australiensts, Vol. V. 
