IN CEYLON. 
89 
male flowers, and it is not always easy to correlate the 
members in the different sexes of the same species. The 
relation between the male and female staminal whorl is 
sometimes very simple, as in D. hirsuta, where there are five 
staminal organs in each male and female flower disposed so 
as to alternate with the corolla lobes. In the majority of 
Ceylon species, however, the staminodes of the female 
flowers are much fewer than the stamens in the male, a 
typical instance of which is seen in D. sylvatica, the male 
flowers of which have from thirteen to twenty stamens and 
the female flowers only four staminodes. The staminal 
whorl is of great interest, and since we have for the first time 
a complete collection of male and female flowers of every 
Ceylon species of Diospyros, a detailed account is here given. 
The Staminal Whorl of the Male Flowers .—In every species 
of Ceylon Diospyros the male flower possesses many perfect 
stamens. These occur either as an epipetalous ring having a 
definite or indefinite orientation to the accessory whorls, or 
as a central hypogynous group ; sometimes both conditions 
are observed in the same flower. 
The filament is white or yellow and varies in length from 
0*25 to 035 mm.; it is perfectly glabrous in some species, 
e.g ., D. acuta and D. affinis, and densely pubescent in others, 
e.g ., D. oppositifolia and D. Embryopteris. 
The anther is usually brown in colour and when mature 
measures from 0*2 to 0*3 mm. in length ; sometimes it is 
strongly apiculate in consequence of the presence of a large 
number of unicellular hairs which seem to have a duty to 
perform in the dissemination of pollen ; at other times it is 
perfectly glabrous. Each anther is lanceolate-linear in shape, 
erect, two-celled, and dehisces by two longitudinal slits. 
It is characteristic of the stamens in the majority of the 
male flowers to exhibit fusion ; sometimes the filaments are 
united throughout their lengths, at other times only for a 
short distance. In the case of D. hirsuta there are five 
separate stamens alternating with the corolla lobes ; in D. 
8(1)4 (12) 
