Descriptions of Malayan Plants, 361 



surrounding substance, which is considerably elevated on 

 their lower side. The petals are of a brick red, with numer- 

 ous pustular spots of a lighter colour. The whole substance 

 of the flower is not less than half an inch thick, and of a 

 firm fleshy consistence. It soon after expansion begins to 

 give out a §mell of decaying animal matter. The perianth 

 is cyathiform, narrowed at the mouth, which is further con- 

 tracted by a nectarial ring which surrounds it, leaning in- 

 wards. The limb is five-parted, somewhat reflexed, but turn- 

 ing upwards again at the point ; the lobes subrotund and 

 thick. In the centre of the cup rises a thick column, truncate 

 and nearly flat on the top. At its base is a prominent ring 

 or cord, and another a little above, both homogeneous in 

 substance with the column. The summit of the column or 

 stigma is a flat disk, about six inches in diameter, from which 

 rise from forty to sixty corniculate processes, nearly erect, but 

 diverging a little from the centre; the upper edge is thin, and 

 rises up like the rim of a salver; the lower edge is incum- 

 bent and somewhat revolute. The sides of the column are 

 angular. 



In the male, the stamina are arranged in a circle under 

 the lower edge of the stigma, by which they are concealed. 

 Each stamen is lodged in a proper hollow, separated from 

 the next by a process of the revolute edge. Filaments none. 

 Anthers sessile, globular, about the size of a pea, dark-co- 

 loured, attached to the lower surface of the stigma. They 

 have a white depressed spot on the summit, in the centre of 

 which is a pore or foramen for the emission of the pollen. 

 The whole substance is spongy and cellular. 



In the female, the column is precisely similar, but wants 

 the anthers and their hollows. In the centre its substance 

 is full of irregular fissures, on the surface of which numerous 

 minute seeds are observed. The fruit never bursts ; but 

 the whole plant gradually rots away, and the seeds mix with 

 the putrid mass. ' 



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