n'S-2 NATURAL UlSTOIiY OF PLANTS. 



8. Palmeria F. JNIuell. — Flowers dioecious. Perianth of male 

 flower 4-S-merous, inserted on a pateriform receptacle ; leaves inflexed 

 imbricated. Stamens oo, crowded on concave receptacle ; fila- 

 ments very short free erect ; anthers elongated basifixed 2-celled 

 introrse dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers, fruits, and seeds 

 of Mo/iimia. — A climbing shrub ; leaves opposite ; flowers axillary 

 cyraose {Aunt rail a). See p. 800. 



III. TAMBOUPJSSEJ^. 



y. Tambourissa Sonner. — Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Male 

 (lower : receptacle fig-like, with a mouth at apex bearing a very 

 small 4-C-merous perianth ; finally usually cleft or partite from 

 apex to base into 4-0 subequal or unequal lobes, staminiferous 

 within. Stamens cc, free ; filaments short, finally erect ; anthers 

 basifixed with 2 lateral extrorse or more rarely subintrorse adnate 

 cells dehiscing longitudinally. Female flower : receptacle a little 

 thicker, mouth larger ; perianth-leaves ix), very short, scarcely con- 

 spicuous when adult. Carpels oc, concealed in deep pits in receptacle ; 

 ovary produced at apex into style ; stigmatiferous head pro- 

 jecting freely inside receptacle ; ovule pendulous in each ovary ; 

 micropyle superior introrse; funicle elongated, dilated below into a 

 conoidal obturator above microp3de. Drupes go, thickened, included 

 in pits of open-mouthed receptacle, finally freed by its breaking or 

 splitting unequally ; mesocarp thin ; putamen thin containing one 

 pendulous seed ; albumen fleshy, oily, copious ; embryo subapical ; 

 radicle superior. — Trees or shrubs ; leaves opposite, more rarely 

 alternate. Flowers terminal or axillary, solitary or racemose, more 

 rarely cymose {Islands south-east of Africa, Java). See p. 302. 



10. Siparuna Aubl. — Flowers dioecious, or more rarely mon- 

 a'cious ; receptacle of variable form, usually pyriform or obovoid, more 

 or less constricted in the throat, bearing within this a conical velum 

 of variable height, with a perforated apex, and outside it oo (usually 

 4-8) minute perianth-leaves. Stamens in female flower (very 

 rarely few, sterile, or in certain abnormal flowers fertile) ; in male 

 flower few (3-G) or cc, inserted at a variable height inside recep- 

 tacle ; filaments usually membranaceous, free or poly-, or more 

 rarely monadelphous ; anthers under apex of filament, introrse. 



