382 GENERAL REVIEW. 



betiilctfolius, and it was named in honour of M. Lucy, Pre- 

 sident of the Horticultural Society of Marseilles. The flowers 

 are of a bright rosy colour, borne in axillary fascicles. 



Syphocampylus Humboldtianus (S.fulgens), see ' Bot. Mag.,' t. 

 5631. Anther-cases syngenesious, blue-black in colour, striate, 

 and of a peculiarly hard texture, almost horny. When irritated 

 at their hairy, tea-kettle-like mouth, the yellow flour-like* pollen 

 is ejected with considerable force, to a distance of one to three 

 inches. When confined inside the syngenesious tube formed by 

 the anthers, the two lip-like lobes' of the stigma are firmly closed 

 and adpressed, as at a, the object of this arrangement being 

 to prevent self-impregnation! The stiff ring or ellipse of hairs 

 (which is analogous to those on the outer surface of the stig- 

 mas of Composites) is doubtless intended for brushing the 

 pollen from the anthers, as the growth of the style gradually 

 pushes it up the tube formed by the anthers. Thus, while the 

 stigma is confined inside the tube, it is not fully developed or 

 receptive, and its use is to push out the pollen for the benefit 

 of other flowers. When it does effect its escape, a curious 

 change, here also analogous to that in Composites, takes 

 place. The two lips of the stigma open, as at b, and become 

 viscid, and are then readily fertilised by pollen from younger 

 flowers. 



THE MISSELTOE FAMILY (Loranthacece). 



Loranthus. A genus of dichotomous plants, usually para- 

 sitic, and having opposite or alternate bright green entire leaves, 

 and hermaphrodite or unisexual flowers, often freely produced, 

 and of various colours, these being succeeded by a succulent 

 one-seeded fruit, which, like the flowers and coloured stems, is 

 also very ornamental. They are for the most part natives of 

 tropical Asia and America, a few being found in Africa, and 

 the species are still more rare in Europe. One or two Euro- 

 pean species have been established in the Botanic Gardens at 

 Glasnevin. 



The late Dr Welwitsch * often alludes to the beauty of the 

 tropical Loranths, especially those native of S.W. tropical 

 Africa, and he collected about thirty species when travelling in 

 Angola, where they are parasitic on evergreen, and more rarely 

 on deciduous, trees and shrubs. Some of the species are very 

 beautiful, having red, pink, or yellow, erect or pendulous stems, 

 often clothed with bright green leaves and delicately-tinted 

 flowers. They evince a predilection for the Adansonia trees, 

 * See a paper in 'Jour. Royal Hort. Soc.,' 1873 (New Series), iii. 120. 



