122 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



posterior pair have sterile acuminate anthers. But the pluriovulate 

 ovary is surmounted by a petaloid style, which is dilated above it 

 into a sort of irregular sac or hood, 1 whose median lobe, longer than 



Cassia (Cafhartoearpus) Fistula. 



Fig. 104. 

 Fruit (l). 



Fig. 105. 

 Longitudinal section of fruit. 



the lateral ones, ends in a little stigmatic surface. The flattened 

 oblong-linear bivalve pod contains numerous seeds, whose long 

 funicles are dilated into arils, and which are rilled by horny albumen, sur- 

 rounding an embryo with a straight radicle and flattened cotyledons. 



1 Like the hood formed by the posterior sepal 

 in the Aconites. At first the ovary of Petalo- 

 styles is surmounted by a slender capitate style, 

 whose apex then gradually bends down towards 

 the placenta, while its two edges increase 

 in breadth all the way up, the membranous 



gutter now formed by the style having its con- 

 cavity towards the centre of the flower, so that 

 later on the back of the hood is anterior. As 

 Petalostyles differs in no other respect from 

 Cassia, it might, perhaps, be not amiss to make 

 it a mere section of the genus. 



