156 NATUIiAL niSTORY OF PLANTS. 



Thus constituted,' the genus Drimya extends over a vast geo- 

 graphical area. About half a dozen species compose it, of which 

 two are Australian ; while America, Borneo, New Caledonia, and 

 New Zealand as yet possess each a peculiar species.- 



Zygogynum^ (figs. 20S-210), which we recently observed in a lier- 

 barium from New Caledonia, is a singular genus, which we should 



Ztfgof)t/num Tieillardi. 

 Fig. 209. t'lo. 210. 



Flower (petals removed). Diagram. 



have placed in a separate section because of the peculiar organization 

 of its gyna3ceum, if its flowers did not present all the other characters 

 of Driiiiys. The gyna^ceum consists of a large number of carpels with 

 multiovulate ovaries on a short cylindro-conical axis ; but these are so 

 united (fig. 209) that on the surface of the common gynieceum we only 

 perceive a certain number of vertical grooves of no great depth, indi- 

 cating the dorsal walls. The summit alone of each carpel is free as a 

 small, very short style with a depressed capitate stigma. In fine, Zi/ffu- 

 (/yinim is a DnmijiiVii^h syncarpous fruit. The androceum is the same 

 in botli genera. The corolla consists of a few, usually only four or five, 

 unequal, thick, coriaceous, concave petals, much imbricated. As for 

 the calyx, it is only represented by a small circular rim at the base of 

 the corolla, formed simply by an expansion of the ilural peduncle.* 



' M. Kudriwiix. 205, t. 58.— A. S. H., /'/. T.v. lirasil., t. xxvi- 



])rim;i». ) 2. Surcoilrimys. xxviii. — Hum,., \n}AkHl. Ft. Bras., Muf^nulKu:, 



Scclioim 4. \ A. Wintrrana. 133, t. 30, 31. 



(4. Tojimannia. ' H. Hn. Adansonia, vii. 2l>(), 372. 



■■' MiKRB, loe. cit., 132-14^). — J. IltK)K., < The »tuily of the orf^iu<.(fi'iiy of lhi» |>lniit 



Fl. N.-Zel., 12. — II. U., I'oi/aff., Uot. (1813), i. will iilouo reveal whether the rim i» of uinniiiU- 



