82 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY. 
oblong cylindrical body of many times its former dimensions, 
seated on its small persistent calyx and crowned by a large pul- 
vinate disk : it now unmistakeably exhibits to the naked eye a 
single cell containing two large suspended ovules and conforming 
to all the usual characters of the order. With one exception I 
have never met with flowers in an intermediate stage, and it is 
not therefore surprising that Steinonurus and Gomphandra should 
have been so long considered as two distinct genera. The nature 
of the pulviniform gland that forms so prominent a feature on 
the summit of the ovarium, and which evidently suggested the 
name given by Dr. Wallich, is not altogether manifest. On 
making a longitudinal section of a pistillum in its early stage, 
when it consists of a very small, 4- or 5-lobed, short cylinder, it 
will be seen crowned by a fleshy glandular ring of the same 
shape, but of a different colour from the lower and central por- 
tions, where the ovuligerous cell is seen, whenever discernible : 
this glandular appendage is sometimes in a small degree conical 
towards the centre, but more generally deeply umbilicate, and in 
the middle of this depression is seen a conspicuous prominence 
consisting of the real style and stigma : this is in the form of a 
very short hollow tube, crowned by four or five very minute 
teeth, corresponding in number to the lobes of the ovarium. 
On the growth of the pistil, in the manner before described, the 
gland just mentioned also expands, assuming the form of a large 
pulvinate disk, more or less lobed, which often exceeds in diameter, 
and therefore overhangs the summit of the ovarium, while the 
style and stigma become withered into a small central umbilicated 
depression. This early stage of the ovarium is tolerably well 
depicted in plate 953. fig. 5. of Dr. Wight’s 'leones,’ while its 
subsequent clavated appearance is shown in plate 954. fig. 6. of 
the same work. I have frequently quoted instances of the ex- 
istence of a similar epigynous gland upon the summit of ah 
inferior ovarium, but 1 know of no instance in which it forms so 
prominent a mark as in this case. 
At one time {Imj. op. p. 54) it appeared to me desirable to 
unite the Phlebocalymna of Griffiths, as well as the Platea of Blume, 
with Stemonurus, which differ in no respect from the last-named 
genus, except in the absence of the villous fringe that forms such 
a remarkable crest overhanging the anthers : from Dr. Wight’s 
‘ leones ’ I was at first led to believe that this was only a sexual dif- 
ference, but careful observation does not confirm this conclusion. 
I find it a constant character in particular species, and on this 
account it will probably be better to keep Stemonurus distinct ; 
but in this case Phlehocalymna and Platea will merge into another 
separate genus, the preference being given to the latter name 
on account of its priority : the differences which are observable 
