300 PHANEROGAM I A. 



third of the length of the corolla, of 5 distinct, nearly orfo'cwZar-ovate 

 and scariously margined, imbricated sepals, their edges hirsutely 

 dilate. Corolla hypogynous, deciduous perhaps before expansion, 

 glabrous; the 5 linear-oblong and somewhat spatulate petals conni- 

 vent, slightly united towards the base by means of the stamens, their 

 margins thin and lightly imbricated in aestivation, except near the 

 summit, where the aestivation is valvate-induplicate, the margins 

 being strongly inflexed ; their inner face bears an elevated and fleshy 

 central crest or ridge, which is abruptly thinner and three-forked 

 above the middle, the lateral divisions divergent and evanescent near 

 the margins, the middle one prolonged to the apex. Stamens 5, 

 hypogynous, almost as long as the petals, alternate with them, and 

 occupying the space between their salient ridges : filaments elongated, 

 subulate, thickish and fleshy, glabrous, below lightly coherent with 

 the petals : anthers cordate-oblong, two-celled, very obtuse or retuse ; 

 the cells acutish at the base and thence distinct up to the middle, 

 where the anther is introrsely attached to the acute apex of the fila- 

 ment, longitudinally dehiscent. Pollen spherical, simple. There are 

 no sterile stamens. Hypogynous disk obsolete, or none. Ovary free, 

 closely sessile in the persistent calyx, oblong-ovoid, one-celled, nearly 

 symmetrical, marked with a slight salient ridge on one (the anterior) 

 side, tapering into the style, which is slender, subulate-filiform, 

 straight or nearly so, and central, longer than the ovary, lightly 

 grooved for its whole length on one (the posterior) side, and termi- 

 nated by a subcapitate emarginate stigma. Within, the ovary is desti- 

 tute of incomplete partitions or of any abortive cells ; but there is a 

 slight and obtuse longitudinal ridge occupying the whole length of the 

 posterior or placental side of the cell. Ovules 2, collateral, suspended 

 from the summit of the cell on the posterior side, anatropous, appa- 

 rently furnished with a single proper coat, which however is adherent 

 to the nucleus. Fruit unknown. 



Although all the flowers examined are hermaphrodite, yet, as con- 

 siderable diversity in the length of the style is noticed, the plant may 

 prove to be polygamous. In that case it would accord in all essential 

 respects with the characters of Blume's genus Pleuropetalon ; a genus 

 manifestly allied to Icacina and Rhaphiostylis (Planch, in Hook. Niger 

 Flora). The ovary is not gibbous, as in the latter genus, and the 

 slender groove of the style in our plant extends for its whole length. 



