THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 45 



basal part of the spadix. Perianth absent. Male and female flowers 

 contiguous,. i.e., having no neuters between. 

 Male Flowers — 



Stamens. — Numerous ; dense. 



Anthers. — 2-celled, sessile, close-packed, consequently compressedly 

 cylindrical ; rounded at the top ; straw-coloured ; glabrous. 



Connective. — Longitudinal, fleshy, separating the two loculi. Each 

 loculus perforated at its apex for the discharge of the pollen 

 by a central pore, which is at first semi-lunar, then gradually 

 dilating to assume a roundish form. 



Pollen. — Globose ; lemon-yellow, or almost orange-coloured. 

 Female Flowers — 



Pistils — Numerous ; not so close-packed as the stamens, but some- 

 what loosely and spirally arranged ; the topmost scarcely sepa- 

 rated from the anthers by any clear space. 



Stigma. — Trilobed, often bilobed ; all on the same level ; much 

 thickened and expanded. There is a deep depression between 

 each lobe ; slightly papillose. Cream-coloured or yellowish. 



Style. — Many times longer than the ovary. Crimson or purplish. 

 £ to ^ inch long ; deciduous. 



Ovary. — 2-, rarely 3-celled, with only one ovule ; purple or deep 

 crimson ; broad and dwarf ; globose or somewhat cubical ; 

 fleshy glabrous. 



Ovules. — Attached to the inner angle of the carpel at its base ; 

 ascending, obovoid, anatropous. 

 Fruit. — Not yet known to have ever developed. 



REMARKS. 



The above description is mainly based on Blume's as embodied in 

 Rumphia (vol. I, p. 139), and that of Roxburgh and of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, in the Coromandel Plants (vol. Ill, p. 70), and Flora of 

 British India (vol. VI, p. 513), respectively. I have added, however, 

 what I know personally regarding this very interesting species of the 

 Aroid family. The propagation of this plant takes place by means of 

 its tubers. It is hardly necessary, therefore, for the ovule to develop 

 into seed. The main tuber or each small bulbil or tuher of the 

 previous year serves as the parent of the future plant. The flower- 

 stalk seldom, if ever, appears in young bulbils or even in tubers half as 



