274 



NATURAL HISTOBT OF PLANTS. 



tubular corolla with limb divided into induplicate-valvate lobes and 

 the re-entering portion fimbriate or wrinkled. The stamens are 

 inserted on the corolla at a variable height ; and the gynsecium, 

 dimerous, or more rarely trimerous, is composed of an ovary the 

 cells of which contain each an ovule with micropyle exterior and 

 inferior, surmounted by a style with long and slender stigmg,tiferou3 



PcBderia fcetida. 



Kg. 248. Fruit (?). 



Fig. 250. Fruit witli the two cocci 

 separated. 



Fig. 249. Fruit with 

 exocarp detached. 



branches. The fruit, more or less compressed, often flattened when 

 dimerous, is composed of thin putamens the seminal cavity of which 

 corresponds to a central thickening and is surrounded by a sort of 

 flattened elliptical frame, often described as a marginal wing. At 

 maturity, these putamens separate from the thin and fragile exocarp 

 which exposes superficially, within and especially without, the very 

 distinctly marked fibro-vascular fascicles with which the portion 

 formerly fleshy is traversed (fig. 249, 250). Siphomeris and Lygo- 

 disodea, the latter American, are only Pcederia with some unimportant 

 differences. Except Lygodisodea, these plants belong to the tropical 

 regions of the old world. All are climbing or volubile, with opposite 

 or rarely verticillate leaves and interpetiolar stipules ordinarily 

 caducous ; all have flowers in compound axillary or terminal cymes, 

 very variable in form, in the length of the axes and in the configura- 

 tion of their bracts, and often becoming uniparous in their ultimate 

 divisions. 



