^2 WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 
group is often over 5 mm. In one flower there were six 
groups each with four stamens ; and two groups each with 
two. 
(d) In the last class we may include all those species 
the male flowers of which have numerous stamens united to 
form a central hypogynous column. This is typified in the 
staminal whorl of D. pruriens. According to Hiern* the 
stamens are thirteen or fourteen in number and always 
connate at the base and surround the hairy rudiment of the 
ovary. In examining fresh material in the forest the 
stamens of the male flowers were seen to form a central 
column, the filaments being completely united at the base. 
Towards the base seven separate stamens could be distin¬ 
guished, each of which consisted of a short white curved 
filament and an anther disposed introrsely ; projecting 
above this outer ring is a yellowish white stout pedicel 
3 mm. in length which terminates in five sessile introrse 
anthers, the pedicel presumably being composed of the 
united filaments belonging to the five stamens. The total 
length of this staminal system is 6 mm., and its members 
exhibit no great variations except in that one may be epipe- 
talous. I have not been able to determine the same condition 
in the scanty herbarium material of D. pruriens. 
It is obvious that in the staminal whorl of the male 
flowers there are very many characters which can be used 
in the study of the ontogeny and phylogeny of the genus 
Diospyros. In descriptions of many species the staminal 
whorl is not even mentioned, and a somewhat detailed 
description will therefore be given in this work. 
In the regular orientation of a fixed number of stamens, 
as in D. acuta and D. oppositifolia, and in the paired arrange¬ 
ment of the stamens, as in D. Gardneri, there is a strong 
resemblance to the Sapotaceæ. Further, the occurrence of 
a fixed number of stamens and staminodes in the male and 
female flowers of species which can assume the hermaph- 
* Hiern, l.c ., p. 43. 
