460 Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon, 



ish : limb spreading, 6-lobed, in two series, lobes of the external 

 series ovate-lanceolate, acute, apiculate, those of the inner series 

 ovate, acute, apiculate, both of the series nearly equal in length, about 

 2 lines long, and of a purple colour. Stamens 6, inserted on the 

 base of the segments of the perianth : filaments very short, thicken- 

 ed in the middle, white : anthers introrse, subreniform, 2-celled, cells 

 widely separated by a thin pellucid connective, which is bidentate 

 externally at the base, and terminated by a long linear, obtuse 

 apiculous. Ovary inferior, triangular, glabrous, 3 -celled, each cell 

 containing two super-imposed ovules, which are attached by their 

 middle to the inner angle. Styles 3, very short, fleshy, conniving, 

 flattened : Stigma 2-lobed, lobes obovate, flattened, obtuse, reflexed, 

 white. Capsule obovate, triangular, the angles somewhat 3-winged, 

 3-celled, each cell containing 2 super-imposed seeds. Seeds attached 

 by the middle to the inner angles of the cells by a brown filiform 

 umbilical cord. They are of a compressed ovate, or subtriangular 

 shape, with their broad ends truncated, and these are opposed to 

 each other, the narrow ends pointing the one to the apex of the 

 capsule, the other to its base. The testa which is very thin, and 

 adheres firmly to the horny albumen, is of a yellowish brown colour, 

 and pilosely pubescent. The albumen consists of a broad oblong 

 plate, very horny, which is rolled up longitudinally, leaving an open 

 salcus along the whole length of the seed on one of its sides, and 

 that margin which is next the placenta has a transverse slit in the 

 middle of it, through which the umbilical cord passes, and at the 

 bottom of which the embryo lies imbedded in the albumen, but not 

 entirely, for the radical which points towards the hilum is protruded 

 beyond it, but cannot be seen till the base of the umbilical cord is 

 removed. The embryo is very small, the radical short, acute, and 

 enclosed in the vitellus, and the single cotyledon is truncated. 



Obs. I. — As no exact description of this very curious plant 

 has hitherto been published, I conceive that the above de- 

 tails, made on the spot from recent specimens, will be valua- 

 ble to Botanists. I have preferred retaining Gaertner^s name 

 rather than adopting the modification of it which Lindley 

 has proposed in the Botanic Register. Three species are 



