204 



NATUIiAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



t}'pe species.' Many other species liave since been observed in 

 Guiana, Brazil, and Peru,' in which the carpels become as numerous 

 as in the true Vnonan of the Old World. In some of the latter 

 the carpels are, as we have seen, few in number. In Monocar- 

 pia^ there is only a single one, and yet we cannot retain it as a distinct 

 genus, for many other perfectly natural genera of the same order 

 contain species with several ovaries as well as species with only 

 one. 



Mdodonun' has been considered by some as a section of the genus 

 Vnona, by others as a perfectly autonomous genus. It has, however, 

 the indefinite multiovulate carpels and the valvate perianth of the 

 true Unouuis. The corolla, it is true, may undergo very great modi- 

 fications in the form and thickness of its parts. In certain species 

 it is all together globular in the bud, while in others it has exactly 

 the same form that is common in Xi//opia, a form even exaggerated 

 in Ft/raiiiida/ifhc} Only this character cannot be considered of any 

 absolute value, as there are species of Mclodorum with conical buds, 

 whose petals are exactly those of some Unonas, and, on the other 

 hand, we may have globular buds in the latter genus. 



The same observation applies to Kentia^ whose general iloral 



Uentham & HoOKEE {Oen., 956, n. 13) refer to 

 the genus Unona (see p. 203, note 4). 



' Trit)yneia ollongifolia SciiLTL., loc. cit. — 

 Uvaria trUjyna Maut., Fl. Bras., Anonac, 'U). 



- H. Hn., Adamonia, viii. 179-181. We 

 liave referred to this group the following species : 

 1. Anuna peduncularis Steud; 2. Uvaria 

 guatlerioides A. DC; 3. Anona Perrotletii 

 A. DC. In a plant that we can only consider 

 as a form (lanceolata) of this last species, we 

 have only found one ascending ovule in each 

 carpel, just as in our Trigyneia rvfescem {loc. 

 cit., 180, note 1), while in T. Mathewsii BENTir. 

 and the species above enumerated, the number of 

 ovules is greiitur. In the fonner case, the seed 

 is eUi]>soi(lal, with a longitudinal ridge along its 

 edge. When the sieds are numerous, they are 

 reduced to thittened disks, piled up like a rouleau 

 of cc/nis, and tlie j)rojecling circular rim is hori- 

 zonttd, occupying the only jM)rtioii of the surface 

 of th(! seed that is not in contact with its 

 ncighlxjurs. 



i" iMig.. Ann. Mut. Lugd. Bat., ii. 12.— «. 11., 

 Ocn., 9r)G. n. 13, «. — II. Bn., AdaiiJtuniu, viii. 

 338. 



* Dun., Mon., 115 (sect, rnonn).— lit., Fl. 

 Jrtv., Anonac., 13. t. 15 (sect. Uvaria). — DC, 

 ISyal., i. 497; I'rudr., i. 91. — E>-UL., (Jen., u. 



4717, a.— B. H., Gen., 28, 958, n. 31.— Miq., 

 Fl. Ind. Bat,, i. p. ii. 34 ; Ann. Mus. Lugd. 

 Bat.,\\. 37.— Hook. & Thoms., Fl. Ind., i. 115. 

 — Tiiw., Fnum. Pl.Zeyl., G. — Zoll , Linnaa, 

 xxix. 317. — Bextii., Linn. Trans., xxiii. 477; 

 Fl. Austral., i. 5». — Walt*., Ann., iv. 57. — 

 H. Bn., Adamonia, viii. 2UG, 30«), 328. — (an 

 Lour., Fl. Covhinch., ed. Ulyssip., 351 ?). — 

 Cyathostemma Ukikf., Notul., 707, t. G50. 



* MlQ., Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat., ii. 39.— 

 H. Bn., Adausonia, viii. 329. — Several sjM^cies 

 of Melodorum, properly so called, present this 

 elongated form of the tlower-bud, as Bentiiam & 

 HoOKEK very justly remark {Den., 958). Others 

 have a conical hud, with the i)etals of a uniform, 

 or nearly uniform, thiikness all over, as in certain 

 species of I'nona anil J'uli/nltliia. Others again 

 have a globular bud, like that of Anona globi- 



Jlora. The stamens are often surmounteti by un 

 acute prolongation of the connective; but this 

 character has no absolute value, being wanting in 

 several species of Melodorum proper. In 

 M. africanum Bentii. (Linn. Trans., xxiii. 

 477), we have observed that the outer stamens are 

 often tnin>fornutl into jietaloid scales, as occurs 

 in sevenil species of Abtrrmoa, Xylopia, to.: 



• Bl., Fl. Jav., Anonac., 71. t. 58 (wvt. 

 J'olyatlhiu-).—U. II., Oen.. 28, n. 31 (2).— 



