berberidace.e. 87 



Plate 35, 36. 

 PODOPHYLLUM, L. 



Sepala 6, caducissima. PetalaG-9. Stamina petalis nu- 

 mero aequalia vel dupla ; antheris longitudinaliter dehiscen- 

 tibus. Bacca polysperma ; seminibus in arillo pulposo nidu- 

 lantibus. — Caulis apice uniflorus, diphyllus ; foliis peltatis 

 5-9-fidis. 



Podophyllum, Linn. Gen. 643. DC. Syst. 2. t. 233. Bigel. Veg. Mat. 

 Med. t. 35. Jacquem. Voy. t. 9. Endl. Gen. 4806. 



May-Apple. Mandrake. 



Calyx (calyculate by 3 green bractlets which are cadu- 

 cous before anthesis) formed of 6 very thin and membrana- 

 ceous obovate sepals, imbricated in two series in asstivation, 

 caducous from the bud without expanding. Petals 6 or 9, 

 in two or three series, alternatively imbricated and slightly 

 crumpled in aestivation, hypogynous, dilated-obovate, large, 

 spreading, deciduous. Stamens as many as the petals and 

 opposite them in the Himalayan species, twice as many in 

 the North American, hypogynous : filaments very short : 

 anthers oblong-linear, adnate ; the cells opening longitudi- 

 nally by a single extrorse line, as it were by a laterally 

 hinged valve. Ovary ovoid, sessile, one-celled, crowned by a 

 large and thick peltate and undulate-crested stigma. Ovules 

 very numerous, covering the broad ventral placenta which 

 occupies the whole length of the cell, crowded in about 5 

 rows, horizontal, nearly amphitropous. 



Fruit a large ovate fleshy berry ; the cell filled by the 

 lateral placenta and the mass of pulpy arilli developed 

 from its whole surface, inclosing the indefinite obovate 

 seeds. Embryo small, at the base of fleshy albumen. 



Herbs, with thick fibrous roots from creeping rootstocks, 

 which send up in spring sterile stalks terminated by a single 

 orbicular centrally peltate leaf, or two-leaved stems termi- 



