245 
« crowns. » It has now seven vegetative centres, grouped 
closely together. The leaves are flaccid, smooth, shining, 
and obscurely ciliated at the margin. The flower stem is 
oval. The inflorescence in my plant was sub-corymbose, 
not so distinctly racemose as that figured by Wilson 
Saunders (1). The flowers are rather smaller than those of 
A. corymbosa and are pure white with green median bands 
on both outer and inner perianth segments. They are 
odoriferous in strong sunshine, but not so markedly as the 
above species. The stamens are like those described above, 
except in one very noteworthy particular — the anthers 
of the outer whorl, although only half the size of those 
of the inner ones, are well formed and always bear pollen. 
This feature forms the basis of classification (2) of the 
genus. 
The pistil corresponds in general characters with that 
of A. corymbosa , but the style is more nearly the same 
length as the ovary. Another distinction, and one of great 
importance, may now be noted. In sunshine it is the normal 
condition of the flower to have the segments of the inner 
whorl standing apart (fig. 11, i). When full open they 
gape very considerably, completely exposing the outer 
stamens. The inner stamens, of course, follow the segments, 
but barely reach the limit of their elasticity. This point, 
however, may be reached in flowers in South Africa. The 
outer segments lie horizontally in the fully-opened flower. 
They do not retain the power of completely closing at 
• night for so long a period as the corresponding organs in 
A. corymbosa . The inner segments are open only during 
(1) Refugium Botanicum, Vol. I, tab. 44. 
(2) Tide Baker, Journ. Lin. Soc. Vol. XIII, 1873. 
