BROOM-RAPES, BALANOPHORE.E, RAFFLESIACE^. 



191 



The seeds settle upon the roots of trees, develop into tuberous axes, and unite 

 with the nutrient root in the same manner as the Balanophorese already described. 

 Also the inception of the rudimentary inflorescence beneath the cortex of the tuber 

 and its eruption are similarly accomplished. In this genus the cortical layer thus 

 broken through and forced outward always forms a large cup-shaped or crateriform 

 sheath with an irregularly-lobed margin surrounding the base of the inflorescence. 



Fig. 40. — Parasitic Balanophoreae. 

 1 Rhopalocmmis pkalloides, from Java. 2 Helosis gujanensis, from Mexico. 



The inflorescence itself is spadiciform, and is borne by a thick shaft beset with 

 large squamous leaves. The spadices growing from a tuber-stock are, for the most 

 part, only as long as a little finger, but occasionally they reach a height of 30 cm., 

 as, for example, is the case in the Balanophora elongata of Java, which is parasitic 

 on the roots of Thibaudia. 



The species of the American genus Helosis, whereof the most common (Helosis 

 gujanensis) is represented above, resemble those of the genus Balanophora in the 

 shape of the inflorescence. There is, however, considerable difference in the method 

 adopted by these Helosis species of settling upon the roots of host-plants and in 



