232 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Milrcphora,^ of which they have the flowers. The three petals 

 fonnini,^ the inner coroHa are in fact more or less taper towards the 

 base,' and are united edge to edge by their expanded limbs to form 

 a sort of vault, tliree-pillared, above the reproductive organs. 

 But these last differ in the following points; the number of 

 stamens is smaller,^ often definite, sometimes reduced to six^ or 

 nine ;' the connective is not prolonged above the anther-cells into a 

 thick tleshy body; if extending at all beyond them it only forms a 

 narrow, slightly prominent blade ; each of the carpels, whose number 

 may be reduced to three, contains only a single ovule, or else from 

 two to four. A dozen true species of Orophcea are known, shrubs 

 with alternate leaves, often ill-developed. Their flowers are axillary 

 and grouped into clusters of variable length, often bare at the base. 

 The pedicels are articulated, and often fall early ; the bracts to 

 which they are axillary are often very close to each other, and 

 imbricated. 



The flowers of C^mbopetnlunf are large, closely analogous to those 

 of Mitrephora. In fact, in the plant that has served as the prototype 

 to this genus/ we find that the inner petals have very broad limbs 

 and narrow claws, and shelter the reproductive organs with the 

 expanded part. But the large petals do not cohere together by 

 their limbs, and are thick, coriaceous, and dilated like a sort of 

 enormous spoon, with involute edges and an inflected mucronate 

 apex. The outer petals are short and broad at the base, and 

 even more than in Mitrejihora approach the sepals in form and 



' 15l., loc. oit. ; Fl. Jav., Anonac, t. 40-44. ^ There are, however, species in which the 



— A. UC, ilfe/n., 38, t. 4. — Hook. & Thoms., number of stamens rises to fifteen or eigliteen. 



Fl. Ind., i. 110. — ZOLL., Lwnaa, xxix. 297. '> The flowers of 0. corymhosa {Bocagea co- 



— TuAV., Enum. PI. Zeyl., 8. — MiQ., Fl. Ind.- rymhosa Bl.) usually have this number (fig. 



Bat., i. ]). ii. 2',) ; Ann. Miis. Lngd. Bat., ii. 22. 288). The three largest stamens are sujier- 



(Several of this autlior's species are Miirephoras.) posed to the sepals. In O. obliqua, the three 



— Hedd., Trans. Linn. Soc, xxv. 210, t. 21. — large stamens are quite internal to the three 



VValp.. Ann. iv. 5 1 ; vii. 59. small ones. In 0. coriacea Tnw., the andro- 



2 Tliey usually taper abruptly in this basilar ceum also forms two very distinct trimerous 



portion, which is much elongated. Without sepa- verticils, as it does too in O. zeylanica. 



rating from one another they may all lean to one '" This number is observed in flowers of O. 



side and leave the reproductive organs uncovered. iiolycarpa A. DC. {Mem., 39). The six outer 



I5ut in O. / ohli'iuu HooK. & TiioMS. (Fl. Ind., stamens are in this case the shorter and seem 



i. 112), the inner petals are shorter than the arranged in pairs. 



outer onea, and hardly taper towards the base. ^ Benth., Journ. Linn. Soc, v. 69. — B. H., 



In O. zeylanica, IIooK. & TnoMS. {loc. cif.}. Gen., 27 n. 28.— H. Bn., Adansonia, viii. 2GS, 



the summit of tiie inner corolla is much 298, 342. 



more elongated than in the other species, in ' C. hrasiliense Benth., loc. cit. — Uvaria 



which it often represents a nearly horizont:il hraslliensis Velloz, Fl. Flmn., v. t. 122. 



table. Mart., Fl. Bras., Anonac, 39, t. 13, fig. 2. 



I 



