78 WttlGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 



Dioecious only. This condition prevails in D. Tpposia, D. 

 qusesita, D. pruriens, D. crumenata, D. ovalifQlia, D. Melan- 

 oxylon, D. attenuata, D. montana, D. Moonii, and D. oocarpa. 



In these species the female flowers may be solitary or form 

 a simple or complex dichasium, having the staminodes of 

 each flower with barren anthers. The males may form a 

 cymose inflorescence, sessile or otherwise, in each flower of 

 which the pistil is absent, rudimentary or represented by a 

 bunch of hairs. It is highly probable that if more fresh 

 material is examined at least the polygamous and very 

 possible the monoecious condition will be observed. In 

 many of the species included under this head the male 

 flowers are always very numerous, often as many as fifteen 

 to each inflorescence, and hence the possibility of variation 

 and occurrence of polygamy. In some of the species, notably 

 JD. quaesita and D. Tpjsosia, the rudimentary pistil of many 

 male flowers is often of conspicuous size, and a transverse 

 section reveals the presence of irregularly outlined cavities. 

 Further, it is not unlikely that if the staminodes of the 

 female flowers be examined fresh they will yield pollen 

 grains. Very little material has been examined microscopi- 

 cally from this point of view. 



The number of members in the staminal whorl and their 

 orientation in the male and female flowers of the same species 

 is sometimes widely different ; for instance, in D. quaesita the 

 female flower possesses five staminodes which alternate with 

 the corolla lobes, whereas in the male flowers an indefinite 

 number of stamens occur clustered together in the centre of 

 the flower, and have no individual orientation to one another 

 or to the members of other whorls. Similarly, great 

 differences exist in the staminal whorl of D. pruriens. 



In D. Melanoxylon the staminal whorl is very unstable in 

 both sexes, there being ten, sixteen, or twenty stamens in the 

 male, sometimes with the filaments free, at other times united 

 in pairs, and twelve or more staminodes in the female flower 

 having no fixed orientation to the four- to seven-lobed acces- 

 sory whorls. 



