ANONAGE/E. 



209 



have multiovulate ovaries ; the latter are in a variable number of 

 rows, and tlie connective is prolonged above the extrorse anther 

 into an obtuse projection of variable length, narrower than the anther 

 itself (fig. 250). The stamens are shorter as they are more external. 

 But this genus presents remarkable examples of reduction in the 

 numbers of all the parts of the flower, and we shall see how we 

 gradually arrive at certain species in which all the floral whorls are 



^iW^] - Bocagea heieranlha. 



Fig. 243. 

 Flower-bud (f). 



Fig. 211. 



Flower, the outer petals 



removed. 



Fig. 245. 



Longitudinal section of flr 



Fig, 246. 



Triaiidrous flower, perianth 



removed. 



only trimerous, while each ovary contains but one ovule ; and that, 

 without its being possible to found distinct generic sections in this 

 small group, because the transitions between the species are all so 

 perfectly gradual. 



Thus B. verrucosa,^ with numerous stamens, has no more than 

 three or four pluriovulate carpels. B. midtijlora,- a BraziHan 

 species, has indefinite carpels ; but each contains only three or four 



' Tlie stamens are usually from twelve to 

 fifteen in number. The petals are nearly all 

 equal, and the calyx is like a small equilateral 

 triangle with blunt vertices. The inner sta- 

 mens are much the long(>r, and stick to the feet 

 of the carpels. These are free, but their dilated 



VOL. I. 



stigmatiferous heads are glued together to form 

 a thick mass. There are usually eight ovules in 

 each carpel. The floral rec^^ptacle is liardly 

 convex. 



2 Mart., lac. cif., t. 14. — H. Rn., Adan- 

 sonia, viii. 16 k — Gvatleria muUiflora PfFPP. 



