Fam. 12. Balanophoraceae (S. A.). 

 (Plates 40 — 42.) 



Fleshy root-parasites with bract-like, coloured leaves, 



Flowers unisexual, monoecious or dioecious, in dense 

 heads or spikes. Male perianth tubular, limb 3 -parted, 

 the segments spoon-shaped, valvate in bud. Stamens 2 

 or 3. Female perianth rudimentary, limb 3 -parted 

 [Mystropetaloii) or perianth o {Sarcophytc). Ovary inferior, 

 i-celled; placenta central, with 3 pendulous, nude 

 embryo-sacs (Mystropctalo?i), or the latter embedded 

 in the ovarial tissue. Fruit different in the two South 

 African genera. Seed with large-celled granular endosperm. 



Forty species of which 12 belong to BaLuiophora (East 

 Indian Archipelago), while most of the other genera (13) 

 consist of 1 or 2 species only. 



Two South African genera. 



A. Flowers in dense, fleshy, monoecious spikes, each flower supported 

 by 3 coloured bracts, the male flowers uppermost ; j 1 flower with 2 stamens ; 

 $ flower seated on a globular, fleshy receptacle, the ovary completely embedded 

 in and fused to the perianth-tube; limb of perianth 3-parted, crowning the 

 ovary and acting as a nectavy. Fruit an achene or more accurately a 

 pseudonut, inserted on the enlarged receptacle. Thallus small, irregular, 

 attached directly to the roots of the host. 



Two species, dark, red or crimson, parasitic on the roots of Proteaceae. 

 Flor. Cap. ii, 573. 



1. Mystropetalon, //,/;-;•. 



B. Dioecious, the sexes different. $ flowers with 3 stamens, the 

 anthers multilocular. % flowers without a perianth, aggregated in small 

 globular heads, their ovaries fused together, the stigmas peltate. The heads 

 arranged in a much branched inflorescence. Fruit a syncarp, each capitulum 

 developing into a [-seeded, globose pseudoberry. Thallus fleshy, swollen, 

 directly attached to the roots of the host-plant (Acacia, Ekebvjiii). 



One species only (S. sanguined), a dark red parasite of the Eastern 

 Province and East Africa*. Flor. Cap. 11, 573. 



2. Sarc6phyte, Sparrm. 



* The East African plant is somewhat different and may lit- another species, 



(Plate 41 is facing page 171.) 



