8 ARISAEMA TRIPHYLLUM 
the upper edge narrows this opening and so produces a kind of 
hollow style (TEXT FIG. 10). 
About the time the opening in the style reaches its smallest 
size, the epidermal cells at the upper and lower margins begin to 
elongate, forming first papilla-like outgrowths (TEXT FIG. 10), 
and then long, club-shaped hairs (PLATE 2, FIG. 33). Rowlee (25) 
described and figured the stigma of A. triphyllum. Briefly stated, 
the two stigmatic tufts, one inside and one outside the ovary, are 
similar, being composed of long, club-shaped hairs without septa. 
The outer hairs of each tuft are the longer, the central ones shorter 
until in the tube of the style they are mere papillae (PLATE 2, FIG. 
26). The hairs of the inner tuft are similar in form, but a few of 
them become filled with a waxy substance just before maturity 
(PLATE 2, FIG. 24). These wax cells break down, and the wax, 
diluted, spreads through the upper part of the ovary, between the 
ovules and into the micropyles as a thin slime (PLATE 2, FIG. 33). 
At first glance the presence of this slime might be taken as an 
adaptation facilitating the passage of the pollen tube from the stig- 
matic brush to the micropyle. But the fact that cases have been 
observed where fertilization has taken place without the breaking 
down of the wax cells or the presence of any slime in the cavity 
discredits such a theory and leaves the use of the cells a question. 
The development of the ovule has been described by the author 
(20), and as it shows no unusual features will be given but brief 
mention here. Two integuments are formed, the first appearing 
about the time the archesporial cell is differentiated. When the 
megaspores are mature the nucellus is entirely invested by the 
two integuments whose masses of enlarged cells form massive 
walls about the micropyle. The condition of the integuments 
about the micropyle is shown in PLATE 2, FIG. 27, almost the same 
as at the time of maturity. 
The mature flower consists of a single ovary attached by a 
very short stem to the axis of the spadix (PLATE 2, FIG. 33). The 
ovaries are arranged in a more or less regular spiral order in 
the spike and are crowded together from the beginning so that 
they are polygonal in section (PL. 4, FIG. 59; TEXT FIG. 6). The 
crowded condition continues through the development of the fruit, 
leaving the berries with flattened sides. 
