Descriptions of Malayan plants. No. II. / [William Jack].

  • William Jack
Date:
[1820]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Descriptions of Malayan plants. No. II. / [William Jack]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    41/60 (page 35)
    ry, solitary, three-flowered, shorter than the petioles % sometimes they are are dichotomously five flowered, having a flower in the bifurcation* Calyx semi-infe¬ rior, surrounding the ovary, ovate, limb eight parted, spreading, laeiniae linear, acute, thick, rather incurv- ed at their points. Corolla white, eight petalled, petals nearly erect, alternate with the laeiniae of the calyx, conduplicate, inclosing the stamina by pairs, bifid, fur. nisbed with a few threads or filaments at the point, ciliated on the margin. Stamina double/the number of the petalynserted on the calyx in a double series, the inner ones shorter, erect, not so long as the petals, enfolded by them until the period of complete expan¬ sion, when they burst from their recesses with an elas¬ tic force, and disperse their pollen. Anthers linear, a- cute, two celled. Ovarium contained within the calyx, two celled, tetrasporous ; ovula subrotund, affixed near the top of the cells. Style filiform, as long as the sta¬ mina. Stigma bifid with acute laeiniae. Fruit con® tained in the persistent calyx, one seeded, the other three ovula proving abortive. The seed is at first ovate or roundish, with conform albumen, the embryo in¬ verse, in the upper part of the seed. As the fruit ad¬ vances, the radicle is elongated and becomes at length nearly cylindric, obsoletely angled, and rather acute at the point. I have generally found three cotyledons, rarely four. £ %