244 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



often slightly produced base and acuminate and ol)tusisli sum- 

 mit, entire, thick, glabrous, the slender venation lightly promi- 

 nent beneath, the secondaries about 14 on each side, strongly as- 

 cending, connecting at some distance from the margin, the fine 

 venation coarsely anastomosing. Flowers solitary or occasion- 

 ally two together, the peduncles lateral, o cm. long, pendulous, 

 slender, thickened and lightly angled toward the summit, where 

 they are also tuberculate. Flowers deep-purple, the perigone 

 thick and coriaceous, rotate, 4 cm. broad. Sepals 3, ovate, ob- 

 tuse, 5 mm. long and broad, strongly recurved and the margin 

 revolute. Petals 6, nearly equal, the inner relatively broader, 

 elliptic, 2 cm. long, 12 mm. broad, strongly papillose-glandular 

 on the lower half of the inner face, very finely and closely tomen- 

 tellate on both surfaces, the margins of the inner 3 more or less 

 involute. Stamen-mass convex, 12 mm. broad, obscurely 6-angled 

 in outline, the stamens numerous, densely massed but distinct. 

 Mass of pistils circular, about 7 mm. broad, depressed or slightly 

 elevated, the pistils more than 20, densely massed but distinct, 

 the stigmas ovate, obliciue, with a strong central groove. Unripe 

 fruit, said to be about two-thirds grown, on an enormously en- 

 larged peduncle and weighing about 15 pounds, consists of 9 

 carpels, in three circles, those of the adjacent circles alternating. 

 Stipes of the carpels 2.5 cm. to 3 cm. long and of ecpial thickness, 

 the carpels about 15 cm. long and 6 cm. thick, of nearly equal 

 thickness throughout, nearly cylindric, obtuse at both ends, gla- 

 brous. AVall of the pericarp a]K)ut 1 cm. thick, the seeds in two 

 series, embedded in a pulp similar to that of Asimina, which this 

 fruit closely resembles. Seed blackish. 



The whole of the above description is taken from specimens 

 preserved in formaldehyde, all coming from one large branch 

 brought to me by a native. Other branches brought at the same 

 time and said to come from the same tree, are preserved on a 

 mounted sheet, and differ so greatly that a full description of 

 them is here appended. 



The leaves vary from oval, with rounded base and summit, 

 3 to 7 cm. long by 2 to 4 cm. broad, to lanceolate and 11 cm. long- 

 by 4 cm. broad. One detached flower is identical with those 

 above described. Another, that has lost its perigone and many 

 of its outer stamens, appears to be wholly staminate. It is borne 

 on a slender pendulous peduncle 5 cm. long, thickened and tuber- 

 culate toward the summit. Its torus is slightly convex and 6 mm. 

 broad, and bears the concave scars where the petals and sepals 

 and many stamens have disarticulated. It still bears about 30 



