350 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



FIG. 78. 

 CALOTROPIS GIGANTEA, Br. 



The Madar 



f.p.c. flap of connective 



t. translator 



p. pollinium 



a. anther 



st. styles 



ca. carpels 



In the centre is a large 

 structure formed of five 

 radiating buttresses, 

 surmounted by a thick 

 five-angled plate. At 

 each angle of this 

 plate there is a little 

 brown or black speck, 

 which, if removed by 

 a needle or a pair of 

 forceps, is seen to have 

 attached to it two very 

 thin flat yellow bodies. 

 These yellow flakes 

 are formed of pollen, 

 and called polliniums. 

 The whole structure is 

 hollow, and inside it 

 are two ovoid carpels 

 with separate styles 

 which unite just under 

 the thick five-angled 

 plate, in which they 

 end. Each side of 

 this plate in continued 



upwards as a little flap which folds over the upper 

 edge. If a needle or small knife be inserted under 

 this flap and pressed outwards, the whole side can 

 be pushed off exposing a yellow pollinium at each end 

 (see p. 225). 



Here is something quite different from anything we 

 have come across in flowers. Now in a flower with five 



