634 PHILOtiOPHlCAl. TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1734. 



very close to it. The colour of the ovary is a pale or whitish green, and that 

 of the tube a sullied or dirty white. 



The stamina rise from the base of the pistil : they are whitish, round at the 

 tops, and raised to the circumference of the tube, applying themselves to the 

 ovary. They are l6 in number ; 4 for each petal. 



The calix is of one piece, expanded and cut into 4 lobes, down to its basis. 

 These lobes are thick, round, skinny, hollowed in the manner of a spoon, re- 

 sembling also petala of roses not fully blown. They seem to cross each other 

 like the petala. The two upper lobes are something larger than the lower ones; 

 they are greenish on the outside, and of a fine deep red within, which makes 

 them more agreeable to the eye than the petala ; the red of the upper ones is 

 more lively than that of the lower ones. All these lobes in short are hollower 

 than the petala ; they do not cover those latter farther than half way their 

 hei^iht. This calix encloses all the parts of the flower. It is supported by a 

 pedicle of 7 or 8 lines long, its thickness being commonly of one third of its 

 length. This pedicle is green, and constantly comes out of the end of a twig, 

 above the last pair of leaves. 



The fruit is round, of the size of a middling orange : it varies however very 

 much, from one inch and a half to two inches and a half in diameter. The top 

 of it is covered with a sort of cap embossed, cut out in the shape of a rose, or 

 a star with rays squared off, of a finger s breadth, or sometimes of an inch in 

 diameter. The rays of this little rose are most frequently 6 or 7 in number, 

 but seldom of 5 or 8. These rays, by being thus s(]uared, form together a 

 kind of polygon : this is the part which had served for the tube to the ovary. 



The body of this fruit is a capsula of one cavity, composed of a thick shell, 

 brittle, a little like that of a pomegranate, but softer, thicker, and fuller of 

 juice. It is commonly 3 lines in thickness : its outer colour is of a dark-brown 

 purple, mixed with a little grey and dark green ; the inner colour, viz. on the 

 inside of the case, is of a rose colour. Its juice is purple. Finally, this skin 

 is of a styptic, or astringent taste, like that of the pomegranate ; and it does 

 not stick to the parts of the fruit it contains. The inner part of this fruit is a 

 furrowed globe divided into segments, nmch like those in an orange, but 

 unequal in size, which do not adhere to each other. The number of these 

 segments is always equal to that of the rays of the tube which covers the fruit. 

 The fewer there are of these segments, the larger they are. There are often in 

 the same fruit segments as large again as any of those that are on their side. 



These segments are white, a little transparent, fleshy, membranous, fibrous, 

 full of juice like cherries or raspberries, of a taste of strawberries and gra})es to 

 gether. Each of the largest segments encloses a grain of seed, of the Hgure 



