240 



On some remarkable Plants in the 



sufficiently obvious in the mature stamen, the appendage 

 not only being a direct continuation of the loculus, but also 

 presenting a continuation of the ordinary central sulcus, in- 

 dicating the division of the loculus into two locelli, and very 

 generally also the line of dehiscence. I have not been able 

 to ascertain why Roxburgh described the cells or anthers as 

 separable to such an extent from their attachment, so as 

 subsequently to become pendulous from the appendages, in 

 which state they are represented in one of the details of 

 the original drawing of R. gloriosoides.* An anther cell only 

 partially polliniferous is not, I believe, of uncommon occur- 

 rence, the deficiency of function possibly, perhaps, affecting 

 indifferently every part of the anther. But the separation of 

 the effete upper part occurring, as it does here, in so marked 

 a degree of the adnate form of anther appears to me very 

 curious. 



I have also ascertained, that the pistillum is distinctly 

 monocarpellary, a structure otherwise suggested by the obli- 

 quity of the ovarium. The most remarkable part of the 

 structure of the pistillum, however, has regard to the 

 placentae, which I have not found to present in any stage 

 any definable relation with the margins, or indeed with any 

 part of the carpel leaf. In their earliest state, they appear 

 as a disc occupying the fundus of the carpel cavity, and ter- 

 minating the axis. Shortly after this disc presents a depres- 

 sion in the centre. Subsequently it appears placentiform, with 

 a concave centre, and thickened undulated sides, and at the 

 time when the ov.ula are becoming anatropous, a double 

 longitudinal section, across the short diameter, presents it 

 as occupying two elevated hues (the sides just alluded to,) 

 which run parallel to the sides of the carpel leaf. This is 

 the state in which the placentae exist in the expanded flower 

 and in the fruit. 



* Icones Roxburghianee, v. 7. t. 76. 



