A SPECIES OF GNETUM FROM SINGAPORE 
17 
branches that travel outwards beneath the mucilage cavity, where further 
subdivision ensues. 
The vascular supply of the remainder of the node, namely the floriferous 
portion, is derived entirely from the leaf traces. At the point where each of 
the latter undergoes fission there arises, by two or more roots, a “ flower 
trace ” which ascends sharply towards the vascular complex in the floral 
ring (Figs. 3, 5). 
A series of transverse sections through the region where the leaf traces 
originate show that the inversely orientated flower traces, cut in almost true 
tranverse section, are peripheral and overlie the incoming leaf traces, which 
are obliquely cut (Fig. 5). 
The course of the bundles in the floral complex is somewhat involved, but 
it is possible to follow out the main branches of the flower trace with a fair 
degree of accuracy. Those which pass into the rows of staminate flowers, 
3 — 4 in number, do so in a more or less horizontal direction, with the result 
that in a tranverse section one sees, just beneath the flowers at the periphery, 
the branch bundles of the inversely orientated flower traces, from which 
latter they are separated by a space. The branches to the sterile female 
flowers, on the other hand, are obliquely vertical, so that in a transverse 
section of the inflorescence they are found to be continuous with the flower 
traces. 
The vascularisation of each male flower consists of a small bundle up the 
centre of each of the two perianth segments, and a pair of bundles — which, 
like the others, are made up mostly of spiral elements — that travel up the 
antherophore. 
4. Comparison with other Forms 
As most of the features in which this species differs from others already 
described have now been mentioned this section will partake chiefly of 
the nature of a summary. The important points to be noted are the 
following : 
(1) The condensed nature of the whole inflorescence, its conspicuous 
nodes and short internodes. 
(2) The great number (20) of barren female flowers in each floral ring. 
Karsten 1 2 investigated the male inflorescences of six Malayan species and 
found an average number of nine sterile ovulate flowers per node. 
(3) The large diameter of every floral ring and the consequent increase 
in flower production without recourse to a considerable extension of the 
meristematic zone that develops the flowers, as, for instance, in the Malayan 
species investigated by Karsten, where the parastichies were deep enough to 
1 Karsten, 1893, p. 343 ; Pearson, 1915, p. 155. 
2 
A. B. H. II. 
