176 THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. [Vol. xxix. No. 346. 



The Flower. 



The individual flowers of both species are minute, greenish 

 when young, pure-white when fully open, while those of A. 

 triphylla are said to be fragrant (3, p. 16, 15, p. 66). The 

 normal flower of Achlys may be represented by the following 

 formula : K o C o A 3+3+3 Gl (pi. VII, figs. 17, 18, and 32). 

 The androecium, consisting of nine stamens arranged on a con- 

 spicuous tortib 1J in three whorls, is the only conspicuous part 

 of the flower, since there is no perianth whatsoever. The so- 

 called perigone described and figured by Calloni (4, p. 30, tab. 

 ix, figs. 13-14) is evidently the torus which had been flattened 

 in pressing (pi. VII, figs. 5, 6, 26, and 27). It is very difficult and 

 almost hopeless to attempt to make out the floral mechanism 

 of this genus from dried specimens ; for this reason so many 

 botanists have been misled with regard to the number of 

 stamens, dehiscence of anther, etc. 



The stamens have been described as unequal in length, but 

 this statement is not quite correct. As a matter of fact the 

 development of the stamens takes place over a considerable inter- 

 val of time. Thus, in a flower, when three or four stamens 

 are quite mature, all others may still be very much younger 

 and therefore shorter; or seven or eight may have already shed 

 their pollen, while one or two still remain in an undeveloped 

 condition (pi. VII, figs. 17, 18, 22-25). If any flowers at the polli- 

 nation stage were pressed for a herbarium specimen it would 

 certainly contain stamens of unequal length, but it must be 

 remembered that they are not all of the same stage of develop- 

 ment. The full-grown stamens are practically equal in size and 

 length, and of similar shape ; there is no difference between the 

 stamens of the outermost whorl and those of the innermost. 



The stamen is petaloid, and is spathulate in shape, the 

 connective being very broad and thick, the filament verj- thin 

 and capillary. The bilocular anther is introrse, i. e. the abaxial 

 side of the connective is broader than the adaxial, and each 



1) 'un petit bourrellet saillant ' of Bajllox (1, p. 61, in nota). 



