124 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



pauciovulate ovary tapers into a style which is undilated at its stig- 

 rnatiferous apex. The dorsal rib of the flattened obliquely oval 

 coriaceous one- or two-seeded pod is edged by a narrow wing. The 

 seeds are organized as in Cassia. Three or four species of Bicorynia 

 have been described, handsome trees from North Brazil and Guiana, 1 

 whose alternate imparipinnate leaves have few coriaceous leaflets, 

 and whose flowers are grouped into immense terminal compound 

 ramified racemes. 



Marticc (figs. 108-110) has flowers closely resembling those of the 

 preceding genera, the receptacle and insertion being as in Cassia. The 



Martia exceha. 



Fig. 108. 



Flower. 



Fig. 109. 

 Diagram. 



Fig. 110. 

 Longitudinal section of flower. 



calyx consists of five free sepals, all of nearly the same breadth, 3 and 

 pretty thick, except towards the edges ; these are slightly imbricated, 

 and sometimes even valvate towards the base. The free petals are 

 very decidedly imbricated, and are nearly equal in size, except the 

 posterior one, which is internal in the bud, and a little broader than 

 the rest. The androceum consists of four stamens, two posterior 

 and two lateral, 4 each composed of a distinctly hypogynous filament, 

 short stumpy and subpyramidal, and an elongated sub-basifixed 

 introrse anther, two-celled, though below divided into four locelli, 

 and dehiscing by two short pore-like clefts near its acuminate apex. 



Walp., Rep., v. 562. There are probably 

 only two species. 



2 Benth., in Hook. Joicrn., ii. 146 (nee 

 Leandr., nee Spreng., nee Zucc.) — Endl., 

 Gen., n. 6812 2 .— B. H., Gen., 571, n. 323.— 

 Martium Benth., loc. cit., 84. 



3 The anterior sepal is, however, a little 

 narrower than the rest (fig. 109). 



4 The outer stamen may be sometimes 

 developed; it is generally wanting in .1/. 

 exceha from Guiana. 



