THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 224. 
of the fresh leaf ; not unfrequently from either above or below the 
cicatrix at the insertion of the previous year’s leaf. The flowers and 
foliage appear about the commencement of the hot weather. They can 
be seen in their full beauty in April and May. Roxburgh and Brandis 
condemn the flowers as of a dirty grey or greenish-yellow colour, but 
although they may be unattractive from a distance on account of their 
diminutive size or entire absence of petals, and positively repulsive on 
account of the offensive odour as they open, their bright yellow anthers 
and the crimson streaks on the calyx, variegated with the soft down 
inside and outside the calyx, as clearly seen even under an ordinary 
magnifying glass, are by no means unattractive ; at any rate they are 
not suggestive of any dirtiness in appearance. The offensive smell 
resembles that of Sterculia fatida or of Sterculia guttata. Male 
flowers are usually to be seen on the upper part of the spikes ; they 
are sessile. The hermaphrodite flowers are chiefly confined to the 
lower part of the spike. They have short pedicels. Bracts linear ; 
very early caducous ; of a brownish colour ; not seen at the base of the 
topmost flowers of the spikes. Sometimes two or three flowers arise 
from the same point or base on the spike. 
Catyx.—Deciduous ; free part of the calyx cup-shaped, cleft half 
way into five triangular segments, woolly inside with long whitish- 
crimson. hair ; the hair outside is short. 
AdstivatioN—Valvate. Calyx-tube of the hermaphrodite flowers 
above the ovary, with a campanulate mouth; segments of calyx 
pointed slightly backwards, z.e., towards the dorsal surface. 
JOROLLA.—Absent. 
Stamens.—10, 
FILAMENTS :—5 short, 5 long, arranged alternately, inserted 
below the calyx-segments ; the larger ones twice the length 
of the calyx. In the hermaphrodite flowers there is an 
epigynous brownish disc between the stamens and pistil, densely 
hairy. The upper part of the filaments curves over the top 
part of the anther as it thins out into the connective, 
AnTHERS.—Bright yellow, bold, slightly reniform with convexity 
on its ventral surface ; consisting of two distinet loculi sepa- 
rated. below, uniting at the connective ; bursting longitudinally, 
The loculi are joined to the connective at their topmost part 
on their dorsal surface, 
