'?0R 



NATURAL mSTOBY OF PLAINTS. 



sessile or pedunculate solitary axillary flowers, below each of which 

 are two lateral bracts with their edges in contact to form a sac, at 

 Hrst completely closed, surrounding the young flower-bud. 



E. OxYMiTRE.E. — The generic name Oxymitra} refers to an inner 

 corolla in which the three pieces approach by their very thick upper 

 parts, so as to form a sort of vault on three pillars above the sexual 



Oxymitra (^Goniothalamvs) Gardneri. 



Fig. 281. 



Flower. 



organs (fig. 281). The summit forms an erect, more or less acute 

 cone ; while the bases of the petals ref>resent the pillars, and are more 

 or less taper,- so that between them are three openings through 

 which the stamens and gynaeceum are seen. The outer petals 

 correspond to these spaces, and are quite different to the inner 

 ones, their edges being in contact with one another only in a very 

 young bud ; later on they spread more or less as blades of very 

 variable size, thickness, and consistency. The calyx is much shorter 

 still, and consists of three sepals, free or united at the base, also valvate 

 in lestivation. The indefinite stamens are inserted in a spiral on a 



» Bl., Flor. Jav., Anonac, 71, t. 35, 36, D, 37. 

 — EXDL., Gen., n. 4713 b.— B. H., Gen., 26, 

 957, n. 21.— H. B>-., Adansonia, viii. 341. 



- In O. patens Benth. the petals are short, 

 concave, and sessile; in several Asiatic species they 

 form a vault more or less acute at its summit, 



and are separated from one another at the base 

 by narrow elongated triangular spaces. In Goiiio- 

 thalamus, Bentiiam & Hooker (loc. cit.) say of 

 the inner petals " basi in unguem latum angns- 

 lata." Now this basilar claw is usually even 

 broader still in the true Oxymitras. 



