TACSONIA MANICATA. 101 



segments which we will call the petals, are rather broader, and more rounded at 

 their ends. 



The remarkable appendages arising from the base of the petal, and which are 

 termed the rays, or crown, vary exceedingly in the different species. In the 

 Tacsonia manicata, they are very short and tooth-like, and are arranged in two 

 concentric series ; but in some of the Passion-flowers, these filaments are nearly as 

 long as the divisions of the corolla, and are grouped in four or five rings, the inner- 

 most series being generally much the shortest. They are regarded as modifications 

 of the petals, between which and the stamens they are probably intermediate in 

 their nature. The stamens are monadelphous ; that is, the stalks supporting the 

 anthers are united into a tube, above which is borne the ovary seated on a long 

 stalk, which passes to the bottom of the calyx tube. Both the anthers and stigmas are 

 unusually large, and the pollen or farina from the former, forms one of the most inter- 

 esting microscopic objects that can well be imagined. Each grain of pollen appears, 

 when viewed under a rather high power, as a spherical body covered with a delicate 

 network, and bursting by opercula, or lids, of which there appear to be four, to allow of 

 the protrusion of the pollen tubes. The fruit is not the least remarkable part of the 

 plant. We are not acquainted with that of the Tacsonia manicata, but in the 

 T. pinnatistipula, it is five or six inches in circumference, spherical, and when ripe, 

 of a yellow tint, hanging by the very long peduncle to which the remains of the 

 flower are usually attached. The seeds are surrounded with a pulpy arillus of an 

 edible nature, especially in a few species, which are not unfrequently cultivated for 

 the sake of their fruit, as P. edulis, and P. quadrangular is. 



"We have so far exceeded our usual limits that we have only space to add, that the 

 T. manicata may be increased by cuttings either of the old wood in spring, or of 

 short young shoots in summer, under a bell glass with a little bottom heat. "When 

 grown under glass, most of the Tacsonias will ripen seed from which they may be 

 readily increased ; but we do not think they will be found to produce fruit in the 

 open air. 



The specific name has been already explained ; the name of the genus appears 

 to be a latinized form of Tacso, that by which the plants are known in Peru. 

 There are several species besides T. manicata, those best known being mollisima, 

 pinnatistipula, princeps, and (jrandis. 



We must not omit to observe that the shoots of the Tacsonias do not recpiire 

 shortening, but if they are too crowded, they may be thinned out while young. 

 When the growth is too rampant and sterile of blossoms, a flowering habit may often 

 be induced by^ training the shoots horizontally, or nearly so. 



Our figure represents the plant about one half its natural size. 



