990 DE THOMAS E. FEASER ON STEOPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 



The roots of the hairs are firmly pressed against each other, forming the bases of 

 tuft-like groups, the individual hairs of which, in undried and immature follicles, are in 

 contact and parallel with each other. In dry follicles, however, the hairs, while still 

 remaining in contact at the roots, diverge from each other above the roots to an extent 

 directly proportional to the dryness and advancement in dehiscence of the follicle 

 (Plate IV. fig. 11). 



The structural relationship of these hairs to the seeds is indicated, even in dry mature 

 follicles, by the circumstances that the tips of their roots are pointed towards the base of 

 the seed from which they appear to originate, that those hairs whose roots point towards 

 the centre of the base of seeds curve round the base, and thus acquire their usual vertical 

 direction, and that the hairs are found only in the portion of the interior of the 

 follicle where the seeds are placed, and, therefore, not at the upper part. # Their 

 relationship to the seeds is, however, unambiguously shown when an immature 

 undried follicle is examined ; for it is then seen that a tuft of hairs of considerable length 

 originates at the base of each seed, and is firmly adherent to it. A group of these hairs 

 attached to the base of a seed removed from an immature green follicle is illustrated in 

 Plate IV. fig. 13, the hairs having been drawn down from the surface of the seed, in 

 order to display them more distinctly. Their probable function is referred to in the 

 succeeding paragraphs. 



Dehiscence of the Follicles and Dissemination of the Seeds. — As the follicle matures, 

 its ventral or placental surface enlarges by the inverted fused edges of the carpels, which 

 project into the interior of the follicle in its immature condition, splitting up more and 

 more, and so expanding this surface. The tearing asunder of the inverted carpellary 

 edges appears to be mainly produced by the gradual separation from each other of the 

 ventral margins of the pericarp, which becomes less and less rounded as maturity and 

 drying proceed. The changes produced in this process are illustrated in Plate VII. figs. 

 3, 4, 5, and 6, which represent transverse sections of dry follicles in four stages of maturi- 

 tion. On comparing fig. 5, Plate IV., or fig. 5, Plate V., with figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, 

 Plate VII., it will also be seen how greatly the pericarp shrinks, especially in its meso- 

 carp portion, as maturition and drying advance. Several entire follicles in my posses- 

 ion exhibit a still greater degree of flattening of the pericarp and opening up of the 

 ventral surface than is shown in Plate VII. fig. 6, but in them some of the contents of 

 the follicle, including even a portion of the placenta, have generally escaped from the 

 interior. No doubt, the assumption by the pericarp of a flat or nearly flat shape occurs 

 in natural conditions when perfect maturity has been attained, and thereby the com- 

 plete extrusion of the seeds is rendered possible. 



That the condition of roundness or flatness of the pericarp is greatly dependent on the 

 moisture or dryness of its structures ma) 7 be shown by immersing a dry mature follicle in 



* For example, in a follicle 11 inches in length, these hairs were present only in the lower 6§ inches, and this exactly 

 corresponded to the part of the follicle where seeds occurred. Above this part the follicle contained only placenta and 

 comose appendages. 



