126 Worsdell. — On the Comparative Anatomy of 
wall. The short partition, consisting of narrow thin-walled 
cells, separating the two cells of the young anther, very easily 
ruptures, the anther thus becoming unicellular. 
When the pollen-grains are ripe, the four anthers become 
united together on their ventral surfaces (Fig. 17) by a thick 
mass of mucilage, this being secreted by long-stalked glands 
which occur in large numbers on the dorsal side in the angle 
between the anther and the filament, as well as on the ventral 
suture. The anthers, when thus united, are seen to be uni- 
locular, owing to the rupture of the wall separating the 
two cells. 
In a transverse section of the four anthers at this stage, 
those of the two anterior stamens appear united face to face 
by a mass of mucilage, the wall of each being broken in the 
middle and bent inward ; those of the two posterior stamens 
are laterally in contact with each other, the wall of each being 
unbroken; their faces adhere by mucilage to the anthers of the 
anterior stamens ; the anther-cells of the posterior stamens are 
usually much more divaricate than those of the anterior ones. 
According to Gardner 1 and others, the dehiscence takes 
place by an apical pore. 
The stigma is a large expanded surface, borne on a long 
style, which in its upper region is contractile ; as a result 
of this, the stigma, when touched by any object, bends 
back against the roof of the flower. Amongst the pointed, 
papillate cells of the stigma pollen-grains are sometimes 
seen germinating. 
The ovary is unilocular throughout. The two bipartite 
parietal placentas bear a large number of extremely small 
anatropous ovules, which are embedded in mucilage. The 
whole tissue of the ovary and its contents are of a deep 
purple colour. 
1 Gardner, Contributions towards a Flora of Ceylon, being the description of 
Christisonia , a new genus of the tribe Cyrtandrcae , in Calcutta Jour. Nat. Hist., 
Vol. viii. p. 153, 1847. 
