11 CHONDRODENDRON TOMENTOSUM 



thick, axillary, leafless branchlets; pedicels shorter than the flowers; 

 bracts minute. Male flowers : Sepals 6, in two rows, obovate- 

 spathulate, erect, smooth, fleshy, surrounded externally by three 

 whorls of imbricating, ovate, ciliate, externally hairy bracts (also 

 sepals ?), 3 in each whorl, the outer ones the smallest ; petals 6, 

 small, scale-like, ovate ; stamens 6, opposite to and connected at the 

 base with the petals, and about four times their length and two 

 thirds the length of the sepals ; filaments broad, connective wide, 

 and prolonged beyond the anther-cells into an obtuse process turned 

 towards the centre of the flower; no trace of pistil. Female 

 flowers (not seen) : Floral envelopes as in the male ; stamens either 

 wanting or very small and rudimentary ; carpels normally 6, 

 erect, inserted on a short gynophore, smooth, 1 -celled, with a 

 single ovule laterally attached; style nearly absent. Fruit com- 

 posed of 6 (or any less number by abortion), quite distinct, oblong- 

 ovoid, smooth, purplish black drupes, nearly 1 inch long, attached 

 by short stalks to the thickened woody gynophore, from which 

 they spread in a radiating manner; pulp of the drupe scanty, 

 putamen thin, coriaceous, ovoid, with a partition running upwards 

 from the base half way to the top of the cavity. Seed strongly 

 curved, and doubled over the partition, to which it is attached ; 

 testa thin, membranous ; embryo consisting of two very large 

 cotyledons and a minute radicle ; no endosperm. 



Habitat. This plant grows in the neighbourhood of Eio de 

 Janeiro, and in other parts of Brazil, also in Peru, climbing to the 

 summit of high trees in the forests. The Portuguese name, 

 "Parreira brava," signifies "wild vine," and was doubtless 

 bestowed upon the plant from its habit, and the appearance of its 

 bunches of fruit. When the large drupes become fully ripe, and 

 those of different flowers are crowded together, the whole presents 

 much the appearance of a bunch of grapes. Specimens are in 

 cultivation at Kew, but have not yet flowered. 



Miers, Contrib. to Bot., iii, p. 311 ; Eichler, in Mart. Fl. Bras., fasc. 

 38, p. 199; D. Hanbury, in Pharm. Journ., 1. c., pp. 81 & 102. 



