608 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



ANDRCECIUM :— 



Stamens. — Five ; adherent to the base of the corolla ; alternate with 

 the petals ; with interposed linear glands, which when mature have 

 brown stiff points. 



Filaments. — Connate, forming a very short fleshy tube or column 

 round the Gynoecium. This structure is called the Stylostegium or 

 Gynostegium. This column bears on its dorsal aspect a series of five 

 processes corresponding to the five filaments which is known as the 

 Staminal Corona. This " Corona " is adnate to the anthers. Dr. 

 Francis Hamilton thus describes this complex and quaint-looking 

 structure, in his Commentary on Rheede's " Hortus Malabaricus" 

 (Part II, page 246, Transactions Linn. Soc, Vol. 14, 1825): — 

 " Regular ; formed of five compressed ' corpuseles ' which are attached 

 longitudinally to the furrow on the dorsum of each of the filaments ; 

 which lie upon the anthers with an incurved tridentate apes ; and 

 which encircle the reproductive organs with an obtuse, spirally revolute 

 base." I may repeat here Hooker's observations that " The coronal 

 processes of the stamens radiate from the staminal column," and that 

 c ' The coronal scales are truncate and hairy." 



Anthers. — Bilocular, erect, introrse ; crowning the staminal 

 column ; connate ; adnate by the connective to the sides of the stigma j 

 tip often produced into an inflexed membrane (Hooker). 



Pollen. — Instead of being powdery is formed into ten pollen- 

 masses technically called Pollinia. These ten pollen-masses consist 

 of hundreds of pollen-cells (Kerner Yon Marilaun). These pollen- 

 masses are pendulous, lying in pairs outside the stigma in the form of 

 yellow, flat, transparent, leaf-like bodies. Some describe them as 

 pear-shaped ; others as spatulate ; DeCandolle says they are of the 

 shape of a plough-share. These differences in description are due to 

 the structural developments of the pollen-masses, as examined by the 

 respective observers. The figure in my plate of an enlarged pollen- 

 mass, as seen under the microscope, and marked No. 3, is not materially 

 different from the description of any of the observers. Some more 

 observations will be made further on, on this very interesting struc- 

 ture, known as the pollen -masses, in my general remarks. Kerner Von 

 Marilaun says the pollinia are in the form of shining, horny leaflets, 

 and that they are attached to a clip-like body by ligulate strands. 



