IN CEYLON. 
93 
rodite and monoecious condition is suggestive of the genus 
Sideroxylon and others, where stamens and staminodes are 
known to occur in the same flower. 
In the indefinite groups of stamens a resemblance to 
Styraceæ and many polypetalous orders, particularly with 
the Anonaceæ and Ternstrœmiaceæ is suggested. 
On the other hand, the central column of united stamens 
(D. pruriens) and the extensive union of filaments in other 
species is suggestive of like features in the Malvaceæ and 
Geraniaceæ, and Hallier asserts,* though without giving good 
reasons, that the Ebenales have their origin closely connected 
with the Malvales, Geraniales, and Theales. That botanist 
also statesf that the genus Scytopetalum, in that it shows 
numerous stamens inserted on the base of the corolla and on 
the flat axis of the flower, and in the arrangement of the 
anther when in bud, possesses characters which bring it near 
to the Ebenales. 
It is important to realize that in the staminal whorl of 
the male flowers of only twenty species there are types of 
character which are only met with ‘in natural orders now 
widely separated.^ 
The Staminal Whorl of the Female Flowers .—The members 
of this whorl in the female flowers are but slightly known. 
They occur nearly always as an epipetalous series, and only 
rarely, as in occasional flowers of D. Toposia and others, in 
the hypogynous position. 
The filament is very similar in colour, form, and dimen¬ 
sions to that in the male flower. 
The anther is usually hastate in form, and is regarded 
universally as barren. It consists, as seen in transverse 
section, of regularly disposed parenchyma with a small 
strand of vascular tissue in the centre. 
The filament is usually glabrous, but the anther in some 
species, notably D. hirsuta and D. Thwaitesii, is strongly 
apiculate in consequence of the presence of numerous long 
* Hallier, l.e ., p. 85. 
f Hallier, l.c., p. 86. 
