On Thismia Aseroe (Beccari) and its 
Mycorhiza. 
BY 
PERCY GROOM, M.A., F.L.S. 
With Plates XIII and XIV. 
A. Morphology. 
A NUMBER of holosaprophy tic forms found in the tropics 
of the old and new worlds, constitute the Burmanniaceous 
genus Thismia. The species here described, T. Aseroe , is 
Malayan, and was discovered and first described by Beccari 1 . 
The plant consists of a system of branching, cylindrical, 
leafless, axial structures, which will be hereafter alluded to 
under the name of absorbing organs. These organs extend 
horizontally over a substratum of decaying leaves to which 
they are attached 2 . When the plant is in the flowering 
condition, an erect scale-bearing inflorescence-axis rises up 
from the creeping absorbing organ. This axis was tenta- 
tively described by Beccari as simple, and terminating in 
a solitary flower ; but frequently it is branched. In my 
specimens a second flower was always visible in the axil of 
1 Beccari, Malesia. 
2 Mr. H. N. Ridley informs me that the plant lives in damp shady spots of the 
forest, and that the habit and habitat are as above described. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. IX. No. XXXIV. June, 1895. 
