Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
Dec.  1884. 
J        Martynia  and  its  Humble  Servants.  641 
MARTYNIA  AND  ITS  HUMBLE  SERVANTS. 
By  Joseph  Crawford,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
This  subject  is  chosen  to  show,  not  the  presence  of  some  powerful  alka- 
loid or  other  valuable  therapeutical  principle  which  I  think  is  wanting, 
but  rather  some  of  the  relations  existing  between  plants  and  insects,  and 
to  awaken  a  deeper  interest  among  students  for  observing  the  indigenous 
Materia  Medica  and  the  wonderful  forms  exhibited  by  plants. 
The  sciences  of  Botany  and  Entomology  have  been  full  of  delightful 
interest  to  their  respective  students  that  the  idea  of  connecting  the  two  (in 
their  earlier  history)  was  almost  disregarded,  but  now  the  one  is  known  to 
be  as  dependent  on  the  other  for  the  perfection  of  its  species,  as  the  other  is 
on  it  for  the  perpetuation  of  its  species.  The  Martynia  has  been  selected, 
not  as  showing  these  relations  to  their  utmost,  but  as  a  common  example 
and  full  of  untiring  interest. 
It  is  a  native  of  the  Southwestern  States,  but  is  cultivated  in  the  eastern 
section  annually  for  its  flowers  and  fruit,  the  latter  for  pickles  and  condi- 
ments of  like  nature.  The  species  proboscidea  is  the  one  under  considera- 
tion, and  about  the  only  one  that  receives  any  horticultural  attention.  It 
belongs  to  the  natural  order  Bignoniaceee,  and  is  commonly  called  Unicorn 
Plant,  from  the  resemblance  of  the  curved  capsule  and  prolonged  beak 
(with  horny  texture)  to  a  horn,  and  the  specific  name  is  consequently  easily 
derived.  The  genus  was  named  in  honor  of  Professor  Martyn,  of  Cam- 
bridge. 
The  plant  is  about  two  or  two  and  one-half  feet  high,  occasionally  pros- 
trate from  weight  of  branches  and  fruit ;  leaves  entire,  large,  round  and 
heart-shaped,  oblique  at  base,  upper  alternate,  lower  on  very  long  petioles, 
and  all  nearly  horizontally  expanded.  Inflorescence  a  large  many-flowered 
raceme  ;  calyx  bell-shaped,  with  five  unequal  lobes,  the  upper  lobe  narrow, 
|  to  J  inch  long ;  the  others  are  nearly  equal.  The  lower  portion  of  the 
calyx  is  split  open  to  base,  and  subtended  on  either  side  near  the  top  by  a 
large  fleshy  conical  bract  as  long  as  the  calyx,  and  of  the  same  color,  or  a 
little  darker.  The  corolla  is  gibbous,  inflated,  about  an  inch  long,  or  longer, 
hangs  obliquely  on  a  pedicel  twice  its  length;  the  lobes  nearly  equal, 
spreading,  about  half  an  inch  broad.  The  lower  lobe  is  somewhat  longer 
and  a  trifle  broader,  and  furnishes  the  most  characteristic  marking  as  a 
temptation  or  solicitation  of  insect  aid  that  can  be  found  in  any  order  out. 
side  of  the  Orchidacea3,  represented  in  this  section  of  the  United  States, 
and  will  be  described  later.  The  tube  of  the  corolla  is  spotted  with  yellow 
and  purple  both  on  the  interior  and  exterior ;  the  lobes  have  their  share 
also  in  the  same  colors,  but  not  so  much  of  the  purple  dotting.  There  are 
four  perfect  stamens,  didynamous,  the  fifth  only  partly  developed,  club- 
shaped  and  woolly;  the  filaments  are  long,  and  one  or  two  are  twisted. 
The  anthers  are  regularly  two-celled,  and  rectangular  when  opened,  when 
they  expose  the  pollen  on  the  surface  in  four  miniature  bricks,  by  the  cohe- 
sion with  the  anthers.    The  filaments  diverge  in  their  recurvature,  but 
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