282 



NATURAL niSTORY OF PL^iNTS. 



receptacle is hollow like a purse, and only open at the top. At a 

 certain height on the outer surface of this sac, we find two opposite 

 hracts, then, higher up, two others also opposite or nearly so, and 

 tinally near the margins of the aperture an indefinite number of 

 alternate leaves arranged in a continuous spiral,' crowded closer 



Calycanthus IcEvigatvs. 



Fig. 310. 

 Fruit. 



Fig. 309. 

 Diagram. 



Fig. 311. 

 Longitudinal section of fruit. 



together, better developed, and more imbricated as their insertion 

 is higher up. The lower ones are greenish, like the above-mentioned 

 opposite bracts, and the uppermost are brownish purple, fleshy, 

 velvety, and scented like petals, without its being possible to draw 

 any exact line of demarcation between them. The edge of the 

 receptacle then becomes thickened to form a platform covering 

 in its cavity, only presenting a small central orifice for the 

 styles to pass through. On the outside of this lid are inserted 



2, iii. 282.— Cunx., Bot. Mag., t. 503.— NiiTT., 

 Oen. Amer., i. 312.— GuiMP., Abb. Uolz., t. 4. — 

 DC, loc. c'tt., n. 1. — C. lcer'if)nius W., Hort. 

 Berol., t. 80. — C. ollong'ifoHus Nutt., loc. cit. — 

 C. inudorus Ell., Sketch, i. 576. — C. fertilis, 

 Walt., Carol., 151.— C./erax iMicHX., Fl. Bor.- 

 Amer., i. 305. — C. slerUi.i Walt., loc. cit. — C. 

 glaHCK.t W., loc. cit. ; — NUTT., loc. cit. ; — 

 Ott. & Hayn., JTolz.jt. 5 (most authors consider 

 C floridus, glaticu.i, and IcBvigatus as distinct 

 species). 



' The index of their angular divergence is ■j''^, 

 so that the fourteenth is exactly superposed to 

 the first ; of course it is the same with the 



stamens, two of which inside the rest are super- 

 posed to two others, when there are 15 of them. 

 But their number varies slightly, especially from 

 12 to 15. So, too, with the other floral appen- 

 dages. Within the decussate bracts we find from 

 14 to 18 coloured leaves, and from 5 to 7 large 

 staminodes external to the fertile stamens. L. F. 

 Bkavais has pointed out {Co»gr. Sci. de Fr., 

 1841, 145) that in C. floridus and ferax there 

 are several of the decussate bracts, and that 

 " from the last of these starts the floral spiral, 

 which is sometimes simple, sometimes bijugate. 

 In the difi"erent pieces of the flower we meet 

 with the spirals 5, 8, and 13." 



