CCXVI, BALANOPHOEE^. 



72' 



Cynomorium, 



^flower with 5-pbyllons 



perianth, laid open, showing 



an abortive style 



(mag.). 



CynomoHvm. 



Q flower, nearly ripe, 



with 4-phy lions perianth 



(mag.). 



Cynomorium. 



Q flower, with 



3-phy]lous perianth 



(magO. 



Cynomorium. 



Fruit cut longitudinally, showing the 



embryo at the base of the albumen, the 



inferior mioropyle, and the ohalaza 



at the opposite end. 



Parasitic heebs, fleshy, aphyllous, monoecious or dioecious. Scapes nahed or scaly, 

 Flowees in a capitulum. Peeianth usvAilly 3-lobed. Stamens 3 {rarely more or 

 less), inserted on the perianth. Otaet inferior, 1- celled; ovule pendulous, orthotropous, 

 AijBjjmen fleshy. Embeyo undivided. 



Meshy heebs ; rhizome hypogeous, sub-globose, or branching and creeping, 

 parasites on the roots of other plants. Scapes simple or branched, bearing flowers 

 throughout, or sterile at the base, naked, or famished with scales replacing the 

 leaves, and often bearing at the base bracts, a ring, or a volva or cup, which at an 

 early stage encloses the inflorescence. Plowbes monoecious or dioecious, rarely 

 -polygamous (Cynomorium), sessile or sub-sessile, in a globose oblong or eylindric 

 [simple or branched] capitulum ; the $ and $ sometimes in different inflorescences, 

 sometimes in the same, often mingled with peltate scales and rudiments of arrested 

 flowers. Peeiakth single, 3-6-phyllous, or 8-lobed, or tubular, campanulate, or 2- 

 labiate, aestivation valvate or induplicate [sometimes 0] . — Plowees $ : Stamens 

 usually 3, rarely more, sometimes 1 (Cynomorium), opposite to the sepals, inserted at 

 their base when they are free, and then distinct, or on their tube when monadelphous ; 

 anthers 1— 2-qo -celled, introrse or extrorse, dehiscence longitudinal or apical. — 

 Plowees 9 : Ovaet inferior, 1- (rarely 2-) celled (Helosis) ; style filiform ; stigma ter- 

 minal, sometimes sessile ; ovules solitary, erect or pendulous from the top of the cell, 

 and orthotropous. Peuit dry, coriaceous. Seed inverted ; testa crustaceous ; albu- 

 men fleshy. Embeto minute, globose, undivided, near to or distant from the hilum. 



[The following is a slight modification of Eichler's arrangement of the genera in 

 Martius' ' Plora of BrazU.' Tribe Gynomorieoe, which I have added, he considers as 

 not belonging to Balanophoreoe, but to be near Gunn&racece ; whilst the rest of the 

 order he refers to the neighbourhood of Bantalacew. 



