156 PITTONIA. 
with turgid straight ridges, of others with curiously inter- 
rupted, or sometimes continuous cristate markings, some 
with finer lines and intervening tuberculations. The carpels 
of many are pale and glaucous-green even when breaking 
up and falling to pieces; others are brown or black at that 
stage; and finally, while in most species the carpels are | 
glabrous, in some they are variously pilose, in some very — 
hirsute, in at least one, prickly. In their relation to each 
other the carpels form a single whorl, the members of which, 
though theoretically follicular and distinct as those of an 
Aquilegia or a Caltha, are really united in the flowering 
stage, and often even in maturity, at least by their style-like 
terminal part on which rests the stigma, thus together form- 
ing a cavity which, however, is not completely closed; and 
within this cavity, so completely resembling that of a one- 
celled capsule, naked seeds are often matured, so that the 
carpels are at once individual follicles, and by partial co- 
hesion formed also into an actual capsule. In these cases 
the ventral suture of each ovary, with its placental lines, has 
failed to close at the very margin; though from a little back 
of the margin it is closed, and the usual one-seeded closed 
joints are perfectly formed. 
Occasionally in the diagnosis of species I have mentioned 
the styles. All my predecessors have, I think, treated of the 
stigmas as being sessile. _ 
The stigmas themselves, in the different species, exhibit 
much diversity. In some they are as long as the body of 
the carpel and filiform. In others they are shorter and lin- 
ear, or subulate, or even almost lanceolate. 
Regarding the affinities of Platystemon a word must be 
offered before proceeding to discuss the species. With the 
exception of its geographical associates, Meconella, Hespero- 
mecon and Canbya, all of which are of course intimately i 
related, it is difficult to name a manifest ally of Platystemon. 
4 
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