20 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



of which two are lateral, one posterior and one anterior, united only m 

 quite their lower part, and imbricated in prefloration.^ The andrcecium 

 is composed of eight stamens, inserted a little below the base of 

 the perianth, arranged in two verticils, four, a little longer, are 

 superposed to the folioles of the perianth. All have 



free 



Geisaoloma marginatum. 



Fig. 37. Diagram of flower. 



Fig. 38. Long. sect, of flower (±). 



subulate filament and an oval introrse bilocular anther dehiscing by 

 two longitudinal clefts. The gynaecium, free, superior, is formed of 

 an ovary with four cells, alternate with the sepals, each surmounted 

 by a subulate stylary branch, traversed within by a longitudinal 

 furrow and terminated by a stigmatiferous extremity not enlarged. 

 The four branches of the style intertwine' in early age. In the 

 internal angle of each cell is observed a placenta bearing two collateral 

 descending ovules with micropyle directed upwards and inwards, 

 and the raphe in the neighbourhood of the umbilicum exhibits an 

 incipient arillary thickening. The fruit is a four-celled capsule, 

 accompanied by a persistent calyx and surmounted by the remains 

 of the style. The cells open at the back by a longitudinal cleft. 

 The seed contained in them is elongate, a little flattened, with a 

 smooth and glossy testa of a deep colour,'' The umbilical region 

 is thickened to a small white aril, which descends as it stretches 

 towards the head of the raphe, and is there lodged in a furrow 

 of little depth and bordered by two vertical lips. The fleshy 

 albumen envelopes an axillary embryo of nearly the same length, 



31 ; Adamonia, xi. 281.— A. DC. Prodr. xiv. A. De Candolle has seen the lateral sepals 



492. interior. 



The two lateral envelop the two others, ^ Siniilar to that of the 3o«cs. 

 which are primarily contorted or imhricate. 



