VLMAOE^. 



163 



Artoearpus integrifolia. 



Fiff. lis. Male 

 flower (ij2). 



Fig. 116. Long. sect, 

 of male flower. 



Mulberries, has two cells ; but one of them is early arrested in its 

 development,! whilst the other, alone fertile, presents, in its internal 

 angle, a thick placenta,'^ which supports a single descending anatro- 

 pous ovule, with micropyle directed 

 upwards and outwards,^ and ordi- 

 narily capped with an obturator pro- 

 ceeding from the placenta. The 

 ovaries become achenes* whose de- 

 scending seeds enclose a curved 

 embryo, destitute of albumen, with 

 a short superior radicle and two 

 fleshy cotyledons generally very 

 unequal. All these fruits are im- 

 bedded in the slightly fleshy and 

 fecular substance of the common floral receptacle, on the surface of 

 which are seen only the slightly prominent remains of the perianth. 

 The whole therefore constitutes a compound 

 fruit, often spherical or ovoid. Artocarpus 

 consists of beautiful trees with soft wood, 

 milky juice, alternate leaves, simple, entire 

 or more or less deeply cut. They are 

 accompanied by a very large supra-axillary 

 blade, formed by the union of two lateral 

 stipules, inserted a little higher than the 

 leaf and for some time enveloping the sum- 

 mit of the branch with a cap in the form of 

 an elongate cone ; after this, they detach 

 themselves at the base leaving on the branch, 

 a little above the petiole, a nearly circular 

 scar. The moncecious flowers are separated 

 on distinct inflorescences the receptacle of 

 which is spherical or more or less elongate. 

 They are in fact arranged in a great number of glomerules, with or 

 without bracts and bracteoles with peltate summit. The males are 



Artocarpus integrifolia. 



Fig. 117. Portion of female 

 inflorescence. 



and it may even persist to the end ; the ovaiy 

 is then trilooular and triovulate. 



1 Exceptionally it continues to develop, and 

 the ovary has two fertile cells. 



' It may be free in its upper portion {Adan- 



sonia), iv. t. 5, fig. 3, 4). 



^ There is a double coat. 



* When fresh, they are in reality drupes, but 

 with a mesooarp ordinarily very thin. 



