402 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



the whole internode above the point of insertion. On the upper 

 margin of this sheath are inserted four subulate stipuliform 1 tongues, 

 two on either side. The leaf-blade is simple and elongated, folded 

 longitudinally like a fan, with two ridges one side, and three alter- 

 nating with these on the other, each ending near the top of the leaf 

 in a crenulation or rounded tooth. 2 The floral spikes are solitary 

 terminal, bearing opposite bracts ; in the axil of each is a single 

 sessile flower, accompanied by two lateral bractlets. 



Myrothamnus jlahellifolia? ■& little shrub from the west and south of 

 tropical Africa, has the habit, foliage, and inflorescence of Myosu- 

 randra, to which it is closely analogous. But its female flowers are 

 trimerous, with one carpel anterior and two posterior ; and its stamens, 

 from three to eight in number, are monadelphous and united into a 

 central column, instead of being free. 4 



XX? DATISCA SERIES. 



Datisca h (figs. 489-496) has dioecious, or polygamous flowers. In 

 the males (figs. 489, 490) there is a little convex receptacle, bearing a 

 short gamosepalous calyx, with a very variable number of teeth, 6 and 

 a much larger number of free stamens, each formed of a short or 

 elongated slender filament, and an elongate basifixed two-celled 

 anther of marginal dehiscence. The female flower (figs. 491-493) has, 

 on the contrary, a long tubular or ovoid receptacle, bearing round its 

 mouth a calyx with from three to six teeth. The cavity of the recep- 

 tacle is occupied by the one-celled ovary, surmounted by three or more 

 bifurcate styles, covered ventrally and towards the apex with stigmatic 

 papillae. Within the cell are the parietal placentas, covered with 



1 One hesitates before describing these as true 

 stipules, for they are inserted, not at the base of 

 the leaf, but on a level with the base of the blade, 

 hence they are, perhaps, the little lateral lobes of 

 a trilobate leaf. 



2 The prominent folds on the two surfaces 

 alternate ; they correspond to longitudinal ribs, 

 and alternate with furrows. The bl:tde may be 

 unfolded artificially. 



3 Welw., Apont. Phytogeogr. Angol., 578, 

 note 8 ; in Trans. Linn. Soc, xxvii. 22, t. 8. — 

 B. H., Gen., 1005, n. 15 a.— H. Bn., in Adan- 

 sonia, ix. 328. — Oliy., Fl. Trop. Afr., ii. 404. — 

 Ci'iff'ortia ? flabellifulia Sosd., Fl. Cap., ii. 597. 



4 [Outer (loc. cit.) describes the filaments as 

 free.— Te.] 



5 L., Gen., n. 1132. — Adans., Fam. des PL, 

 ii. 506.— J., Gen., 445. — G^ertn., Fruct., i. 147, 

 t. 30.— Lame., Diet., i. 601 ; Suppl., i. 79 ; III., t. 

 825. — Endl., Gen., n. 5016. — Patib, Organog., 

 370, t. 61 ; Fam. Nat., 119.— A. DC, Prodr., xv. 

 p. i. 410.— B. H., Gen., 844, n. 1.— Lesi. & 

 Dcne., Tr. Gen., 488.— Cannabina T., Inst. 

 Cor., 52, t. 488. — Cannabis P. Alp., Exot., 298, 

 300 (nee Auctt.). — Luteola Bauh., Pin., 100 

 (nee Auctt.). 



6 From four to ten. 





