BOTANICAL NOTES. 255 



the two upper petals become more or less erect, the two 

 lower lying in the plane of the calyx-tube, but if from any 

 cause the bud is held erect, the flower opens regularly. 

 The lobes of the calyx-tube are usually erect, sometimes, 

 though rarely, reflexed. The globular base is 8-sulcate 

 with as many ribs arising from the grooves, four of them 

 continuing to the end of the calyx-lobes, and the alter- 

 nate ones terminating in a series of anastomosing 

 arches at the base of the petals, which therefore have a tri- 

 angular attachment. The base of the calyx is lined by an 

 adnate disc terminating at the narrowest part of the tube 

 in eight lobes, which are very variable in size and shape, 

 sometimes reduced to an irregular line. The erect longer 

 lobes are attached to the calyx nerves; the alternate shorter 

 ones either reflexed, or erect and pouch-like in front of the 

 petal nerves. The filaments spring from behind the lobes 

 of the disc, and are adnate to the nerves, becoming free 

 near the summit of the tube; those opposite the petals 

 about a line below their insertion. The pollen grains are 

 very large, with rounded angles. 



The floral structure here described is very similar to that 

 of Boisduvalia, and still more to certain species of Epilo- 

 hium, especially U. oheordatum. Indeed the differences 

 between this plant and Zausclineria are so very slight that 

 it is difficult to see upon what grounds thc}^ can be generic- 

 ally kept apart. 



(Enotheka ovata. — The perennial root occasionally 

 attains a diameter of 2-3 inches, and the leaves are 

 sometimes used as a salad. In the section Taraxia, to 

 which it belongs, the structure of the calyx-tube is 

 very similar to that of Gongylocarpiis, and throws some 

 light upon the peculiar method of fruit formation in that 

 genus. In Q^J. ovata and its allies, the pistil is not free in 

 the tube, which is closed at the throat by an adnate disk, 

 from the margin of which the petals and stamens are decid- 

 uous, the remainder of the floral organs being completely 



