Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 487 



is common to all the species of the several genera above men- 

 tioned ; that after impregnation the styles become flattened and 

 expanded, until they form a sessile fleshy disc, more or less 

 lobed, upon the summit of the fruit : I feel convinced that Bauer, 

 when he made his drawing of P. Endlicheri, sketched the figure 

 of the ovarium after this transformation had taken place. The 

 fact of the existence of three distinct styles and three separate 

 cells in the ovarium, does not militate against the ordinary cha- 

 racter of the Icacinacece, as demonstrated by the structure already 

 shown to exist in the genera previously described ; for though the 

 ovarium is there uniformly 1-celled, I have all along endeavoured 

 to prove that such is the case only by abortion, and that 

 normally, in all those instances, it is in reality 3- or 5-cclled. My 

 object in constantly maintaining that fact, has been to show the 

 fundamental difference in normal structure that exists between 

 the Icacinacece and the Olacacea. In regard to the circumstance 

 of the presence of three distinct styles in Pennantia, we must 

 remember the very analogous structure in several genera of the 

 section last described; for instance in Apodytes, Rhaphiostylis 

 and Leretia ; but in those cases, two of these styles are nearly 

 obsolete, as are also two of the corresponding cells of the ovarium : 

 in all these instances, the normal axis is in the centre of these 

 cells, although two of them be only rudimentary ; for where the 

 ovarium is apparently only 1-celled, the ovules are invariably 

 suspended near the apex of the cavity, upon the side of the 

 abortive cells and of the two rudimentary styles. It is desirable 

 to keep these facts in view when we come to speak of Stemonurus 

 and Sarcostigma. 



Among the numerous specimens in Sir Wm, Hooker's herba- 

 rium of Pennantia con/mbosa from New Zealand, I have not 

 been able to meet with a single ovarium that shows any trace of 

 an ovule ; this, in every flower I have examined, exhibits itself 

 in the form of a terete, narrow, conical, or subulate stvle-like 

 column, rising out of a pentangular hypogynous disc, and sur- 

 mounted by a distinctly clavate and undivided stigma. On 

 making sections both longitudinally and transversely, there ap- 

 pears nothing but a homogeneous fleshy mass : had I not en- 

 countered the necessary elements in the New Holland species, 

 we should have had no evidence to guide us to the real structure. 

 I have already described the pistillum, existing in that species, 

 as appearing like three subulate processes, conjoined for two- 

 thirds of their length, the upper parts free and erect, the united 

 portions forming three distinct cells; one of these cells only 

 appears ovuligerous, the ovulary body occupying the whole space 

 of the cell and suspended by a short cord from the summit ; but 

 on account of the great tenuity of the walls of these cells, the 



