y2 WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 



group is often over 5 mm. In one flower there were six 

 groups each with four stamens ; and two groups each with 

 two. 



(d) In the last class we may include all those species 

 the male flowers of which have numerous stamens united to 

 form a central hypogynous column. This is typified in the 

 staminal whorl of D. pruriens. According to Hiern* the 

 stamens are thirteen or fourteen in number and always 

 connate at the base and surround the hairy rudiment of the 

 ovary. In examining fresh material in the forest the 

 stamens of the male flowers were seen to form a central 

 column, the filaments being completely united at the base. 

 Towards the base seven separate stamens could be distin- 

 guished, each of which consisted of a short white curved 

 filament and an anther disposed introrsely ; projecting 

 above this outer ring is a yellowish white stout pedicel 

 3 mm. in length which terminates in five sessile introrse 

 anthers, the pedicel presumably being composed of the 

 united filaments belonging to the five stamens. The total 

 length of this staminal system is 6 mm., and its members 

 exhibit no great variations except in that one may be epipe- 

 talous. I have not been able to determine the same condition 

 in the scanty herbarium material of D. pruriens. 



It is obvious that in the staminal whorl of the male 

 flowers there are very many characters which can be used 

 in the study of the ontogeny and phylogeny of the genus 

 Diospyros. In descriptions of many species the staminal 

 whorl is not even mentioned, and a somewhat detailed 

 description will therefore be given in this work. 



In the regular orientation of a fixed number of stamens, 

 as in D. acuta and D. oppositifolia, and in the paired arrange- 

 ment of the stamens, as in D. Gardneri, there is a strong 

 resemblance to the SapotaceaB. Further, the occurrence of 

 a fixed number of stamens and staminodes in the male and 

 female flowers of species which can assume the hermaph- 



* Hiern, l.c., p. 43. 



