354 



NATURAL UISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Fiu. 111. 

 Male tlower. 



Fig. 412. 

 Diagram of female flower. 



S(in(;uisorha. Tills orifice is almost entirely closed by the thickened 

 edge of a glandular disk, and here one may often observe a variable 



number of tiny scales, re- 

 ciifforiia iiicifoiia. ^ presenting rudimentary sta- 



mens. In the bottom of the 

 sac are inserted either one 

 or two carpels, with an ovary 

 like that of Poterimn, and a 

 style, which, at first recurved 

 in the bud, afterwards becomes 

 erect to form a long, exserted, 

 thick tongue, one side of 

 which is thickly covered with a papillose, plumose tissue. The 

 fruit consists of one or two achenes enclosed in the receptacular 

 sac, which has now become thick and coriaceous or horny, or more 

 rarely corky or almost fleshy, and is itself surrounded by the per- 

 sistent calyx, closely applied to its outer surflice. The seeds are 

 pendulous, with membranous coats and an embryo with thick, fleshy 

 cotyledons and a superior radicle. 



CHjf'ortia consists of shrubs from the south of Africa,^ whose leaves 

 are alternate, often crowded, with two lateral adnate stipules and a 

 ])lade of very variable form, in some species recalling that of the 

 Apple or the Elm, in others resembling the leaf-like branches of 

 Jiuscus (Butcher's Broom), or the leaves of the Proteacea, Braco- 

 phyllion, Sli/plidia, or even of the Braccenece. De CANDOiiLE' has 

 shown how these modifications pass into one another, while using 

 them to subdivide the genus into sections.^ According to him all 

 the species have alternate leaves ; in those described as having them 

 fascicled they are really trifoliolate ; as indeed they are in those 

 described as having opposite leaves, but here the lateral leaflets are 

 alone developed. The flowers are sessile, or nearly so, solitary or in 

 pairs in the axils of the leaves. 



' TiirxB., Prodr. Fl. Cap., 93.— W., Spec, 2 jyr^^g ^^^ j^ feuillage des Cliffortia, Ann. 



iv. 838.— SruENO., N. Ent., ii. 17 k Hakv., Sc Nat., ser. 1, i. 447. 



Then. Cap., t. '.).'>.— 11 \kv. & SOND., FL Cap., ii. ' 1. Multinervia;. 2. Dichoptercp. 3. Tenui- 



2i)2 (lu-c .55(7). foU(E. 4. Latifolice. 5. BifoliolrE. 



