390 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Trichocladus" (figs. 465-466) has flowers closely resembling those 

 of both Hamamelis and Dicoryphe, some pentamerous and others 



Trichocladus erinitus. 



Fig. 465. 

 Flower (|). 



Fig. 466. 

 Long. sect, of flower. 



tetramerous, polygamo-moncecious or dioecious, with a partly inferior 

 ovary. The petals are very long and narrow, with revolute edges, 

 except in the female flowers, where they are ill-developed or absent. 

 The stamens have a short thick filament and a basifixed anther, 

 opening laterally by two valves. 2 The ovary, surmounted by two 

 subulate styles stigmatiferous at the apex, has two cells, wherein the 

 ovule is twisted as in Hamamelis. Two species are known, which 

 alone represent this series at the Cape. They are shrubs covered 

 with stellate hairs, with opposite and alternate leaves, and terminal 

 floral capitula, sometimes borne on short axillary branches. This 

 last is the chief distinction between Trichocladus and Hamamelis, of 

 which it has, on the whole, nearly the flowers and fruit. 



In Eustigma oblongifolium z the flower is fundamentally the same, 

 with a superior imbricate perianth, and anthers dehiscing nearly as 

 in Zorojjefalwm. 4 The inferior ovary and the ovule 5 found in either 



1 Pees., Syn., ii. 597.— DC, Prodr., iv. 269. — 

 Endl., Gen., n. 4590. — H. Bn., in Adansonia, v. 

 298; in Payer Pant. Nat., 344. — B. H., Gen., 

 667, n. 8.— Dahlia Thttnb., in Skr. Nat. Selsk. 

 Kiohenh., ii. 133, t. 4 (nee Cat.). 



2 Haet. & Sond., PI. Cap., ii. 324. 



3 Gaedn. & Chapm., in Hook. Journ., i. 312. — 

 Seem., Pot. Herald, t. 95. — Benth., Fl. Hong- 

 kong., 132.— B. H., Gen., 668, n. 11. 



4 Each cleft of the anther is at first lateral and 



vertical ; it then is continued inwards and out- 

 wards to form a sort of double hook at top and 

 bottom, thus marking out a pair of valves, which 

 then open like folding doors. 



5 The raphe is at first dorsal, but owing to a 

 partial torsion, the micropyle is brought to one 

 side. The primine is slipper-shaped, enclosing 

 the secundine closely applied to the nucleus, 

 nearly as in the Box-tree. 



