354 



NATUUAL niSTORY OF PLANTS. 



Sangimorha. This orifice 

 edi'e of a f'lamlular disk, 



CUfforlw ilicifoli,!. 



is almost entirely closed by the thickened 

 and here one may often observe a variable 

 number of tiny scales, re- 

 , presenting rudimentary sta- 



mens. In the bottom of the 

 sac are inserted either one 

 or two carpels, with an ovary 

 like that of Potcnunt, and a 

 style, which, at first recurved 

 in the bud, afterwards becomes 



Fig. 412. 

 Dhigrara of female flower. 



erect to form a long, exserted, 



thick tongue, one side of 

 which is thickly covered with a papillose, plumose tissue. The 

 fruit consists of one or two achenes enclosed in the receptacular 

 sac, which has now become thick and coriaceous or horny, or more 

 rarely corky or almost fleshy, and is itself surrounded by the per- 

 sistent calyx, closely applied to its outer surface. The seeds are 

 pendulous, with membranous coats and an embryo with thick, fleshy 

 cotyledons and a superior radicle. 



C/ijf'ortia consists of slirubs from the south of Africa,' whose leaves 

 are alternate, often crowded, with two lateral adnate stipules and a 

 blade of very variable form, in some species recalling that of the 

 Apple or the Elm, in others resembling the leaf-like branches of 

 Jimcus (Butcher's Broom), or the leaves of the Proicavcte, Draco- 

 phyllum, Sfi/phelia, or even of the Braccenecp. De C.'vndolle" has 

 shown how these modifications pass into one another, while using 

 them to subdivide the genus into sections.' According to him all 

 the species have alternate leaves ; in those described as having them 

 fascicled they are really trifoliolate ; as indeed they are in those 

 described as having opposite leaves, but here the lateral leaflets are 

 alone developed. The flowers are sessile, or nearly so, solitary or in 

 pairs in the axils of tlie leaves. 



' TnuKD., Prodr. Fl. Cop., 1)3. — W., Spec, 

 iv. 838. — Si'UKNU., A'. Ent., ii. 17k IIauv., 

 Tfurn. Cup., t. lis.— IIarv. <t SONI)., /7. Cap., ii. 

 292 (ncc 51»7). 



* Note xur le fi^ii/laffe iles Clillortin, Ann. 

 Sr. Nat., H('r. 1, i. HT. 



* 1. Mullinerrut. 2. Dichoptrnr. 3. Tmui- 

 foliir. V. Latlfoliir. 5. Jil/olivhr. 



