IN CEYLON. 79 



Monoecious only. This occurs in D. oppositifolia and D. 

 acuta. 



oppositifolia the female flower is usually solitary and 

 at the end of a young twig. Occasionally a female flower 

 occurs lower down in the axil of old or young leaves. When 

 the flower terminates the young shoot it is usually on a 

 peduncle from 5 to 20 mm. long ; when in the axil of a leaf 

 it is invariably sessile and mixed with male flowers. The 

 staminodes are usually four in number, alternating with the 

 corolla segments ; or exceptionally eight in number, oppo- 

 site and alternate with the corolla segments. In every case 

 examined the anthers of the staminodes were barren. The 

 male flowers occur in sessile or subsessile inflorescences in 

 the axil of old leaves or on old twigs. Each flower possesses 

 eight stamens and a rudimentary apical mass of long unicel- 

 lular hairs in the position of the pistil of other flowers. The 

 stamens are usually paired, the pairs usually alternating with 

 the corolla segments. The resemblance between the orienta- 

 tion of the staminal whorl of the female flower and that of 

 the stamens of the male flower is here very great, and as far 

 as this whorl is concerned we may speak of the flowers as 

 male or female, according to the fertile or barren condition 

 of the anthers. 



D. acuta, according to Thwaites, is occasionally monoe- 

 cious ; personally I have never been able to obtain any other 

 condition, though I found it in abundance at Wewella, Weera- 

 kanda, Hewessa, and Pasdun korale. The male and female 

 flowers occur in clusters in the axil of old or young leaves, 

 the individuals of the same cluster being of the same sex. 

 As in P. oppositifolia, the female flowers occur mainly in the / / 

 axil of the younger leaves, the male flowers being below. In 

 the number and orientation of the members of the staminal 

 whorl there is a tendency to variability on the male side. 

 In the male flowers there may be five, seven, or nine 

 epipetalous stamens, usually separate but occasionally united 

 in pairs, and when the latter condition obtains the inner 



