ASCLEPIADACE.E 351 



sepals, petals five and five stamens, the latter usually 

 stand alternately with the petals, and this is the case 

 here. Each of the five buttresses (collectively known 

 as the corona) is a development on the back of a 

 stamen, a much enlarged filament in fact, and the 

 thick five-angled plate is formed of the five anthers 

 joined to each other and to the combined heads of 

 the two styles. A much less developed connexion 

 between anthers and stylar head we saw occurs in 

 some of the APOCYNACE^E, e.g. in NERIUM. The flaps 

 are extensions like those on top of the anthers of the 

 COMPOSITE, of the connectives which are here ex- 

 panded laterally, so that the pollen sacs of an anther 

 are separated by about one-sixteenth of an inch, but 

 lie each very close to a pollen sac of the next anther 

 on either side. And the pollen in each sac instead 

 of separating into distinct grains, forms one flat yellow 

 pollinium. The polliniums of two adjacent anthers 

 become connected by a special bit of tissue, the black 

 speck referred to above, which because it carries them 

 away with it when removed, is called the translator, or 

 sometimes the gland. 



The curious central structure of this flower is thus 

 seen to be made up of the same parts as those of an 

 ordinary flower, but modified and fused into one mass. 



The fruit of this plant is a large inflated follicle, 

 formed of one of the carpels, and contains a number 

 of flat seeds tightly packed together, and each with 

 a tuft of long silky hairs. 



*CERCPEGIA ELEGANS, Wall, the Lantern flower. 

 Like most of the family it is a twining herb with 

 opposite leaves and a flexible stem. 



