NOTES ON THE FUNCTION OF THE STAMINAL 
AND STAMINODAL GLANDS IN THE FLOWERS 
OF ADENANDRA 
By R. MARLOTH, Ph.D. 
(With illustration on Plate I) 
Among the various natural groups of plants which are entirely or princi- 
pally confined to the south-western coast lands of the Cape one of the most 
important in several respects is the tribe Diosmeae, family Rutaceae. 
The tribe consists of about 200 species, of which only one is a tree, viz. Calo- 
dendron capense, the Cape chestnut, all the others being shrubs or shrublets, 
mostly only a foot or two high and all bearing ericoid or myrtilloid leaves 
richly endowed with aromatic oils. Some of the species are so frequent on the 
flats or on the hills and mountains that sometimes whole valleys may be 
filled with their fragrant exhalation. 
The best known representatives of the tribe are the Buchu plants, of which 
two are employed on a larger scale, viz. Barosma hetulina and B. crenulata, 
the former being the more highly priced of the two. 
Generally speaking the flowers are mostly small although often conspicuous 
through their number, as in the so-called Cape may (Coleonema album), but 
in the genus Adenandra they are quite showy, and several species indicate 
this in their vernacular name, viz. Shepherd’s delight (A. serpyllacea), Klip 
sissie (A. fragrans), Kommetje teewater (A. uniflora), etc. 
It is a peculiar feature in the structure of the flowers of this genus which 
forms the subject of these notes. 
The flower possesses five perfect stamens and, alternating with them, 
five sterile stamens termed staminodes, the latter generally resembling the 
stamens but possessing no anthers. Each of these organs, stamens as well 
as staminodes, bears a gland at its apex which secretes a viscid fluid, and as 
the glands are also often bright red, it is not surprising to find that they have 
often been looked upon as organs of attraction for insect visitors, that is to 
say, as something in the nature of nectaries. As our observations will show, 
that is not their function, for the real nectaries which secrete a saccharine 
fluid for the attraction of insects are situated in the base of the flower and 
consist of little depressions just in front of the staminodes (Fig. A, 6). The 
question arises, what is the function of these conspicuous secretory organs? 
An investigation of the chemical nature of the secretion of both kinds of 
