Chapter 3. Heterostyled Dimorphic Plants--Continued

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_ CHAPTER III. HETEROSTYLED DIMORPHIC PLANTS--continued Linum grandiflorum, long-styled form utterly sterile with own-form pollen. Linum perenne, torsion of the pistils in the long-styled form alone. Homostyled species of Linum. Pulmonaria officinalis, singular difference in self-fertility between the English and German long-styled plants. Pulmonaria angustifolia shown to be a distinct species, long-styled form completely self-sterile. Polygonum fagopyrum. Various other heterostyled genera. Rubiaceae. Mitchella repens, fertility of the flowers in pairs. Houstonia. Faramea, remarkable difference in the pollen-grains of the two forms; torsion of the stamens in the short-styled form alone; development not as yet perfect. The heterostyled structure in the several Rubiaceous genera not due to descent in common. (FIGURE 3.4. Linum grandiflorum. Left: Long-styled form. Right: Short-styled form. s, s: stigmas.) It has long been known that several species of Linum present two forms (3/1. Treviranus has shown that this is the case in his review of my original paper 'Botanische Zeitung' 1863 page 189.), and having observed this fact in L. flavum more than thirty years ago, I was led, after ascertaining the nature of heterostylism in Primula, to examine the first species of Linum which I met with, namely, the beautiful L. grandiflorum. This plant exists under two forms, occurring in about equal numbers, which differ little in structure, but greatly in function. The foliage, corolla, stamens, and pollen-grains (the latter examined both distended with water and dry) are alike in the two forms (Figure 3.4). The difference is confined to the pistil; in the short-styled form the styles and the stigmas are only about half the length of those in the long- styled. A more important distinction is, that the five stigmas in the short- styled form diverge greatly from one another, and pass out between the filaments of the stamens, and thus lie within the tube of the corolla. In the long-styled form the elongated stigmas stand nearly upright, and alternate with the anthers. In this latter form the length of the stigmas varies considerably, their upper extremities projecting even a little above the anthers, or reaching up only to about their middle. Nevertheless, there is never the slightest difficulty in distinguishing between the two forms; for, besides the difference in the divergence of the stigmas, those of the short-styled form never reach even to the bases of the anthers. In this form the papillae on the stigmatic surfaces are shorter, darker-coloured, and more crowded together than in the long-styled form; but these differences seem due merely to the shortening of the stigma, for in the varieties of the long-styled form with shorter stigmas, the papillae are more crowded and darker-coloured than in those with the longer stigmas. Considering the slight and variable differences between the two forms of this Linum, it is not surprising that hitherto they have been overlooked. In 1861 I had eleven plants in my garden, eight of which were long-styled, and three short-styled. Two very fine long-styled plants grew in a bed a hundred yards off all the others, and separated from them by a screen of evergreens. I marked twelve flowers, and placed on their stigmas a little pollen from the short-styled plants. The pollen of the two forms is, as stated, identical in appearance; the stigmas of the long-styled flowers were already thickly covered with their own pollen--so thickly that I could not find one bare stigma, and it was late in the season, namely, September 15th. Altogether, it seemed almost childish to expect any result. Nevertheless from my experiments on Primula, I had faith, and did not hesitate to make the trial, but certainly did not anticipate the full result which was obtained. The germens of these twelve flowers all swelled, and ultimately six fine capsules (the seed of which germinated on the following year) and two poor capsules were produced; only four capsules shanking off. These same two long-styled plants produced, in the course of the summer, a vast number of flowers, the stigmas of which were covered with their own pollen; but they all proved absolutely barren, and their germens did not even swell. The nine other plants, six long-styled and three short-styled, grew not very far apart in my flower-garden. Four of these long-styled plants produced no seed- capsules; the fifth produced two; and the remaining one grew so close to a short-styled plant that their branches touched, and this produced twelve capsules, but they were poor ones. The case was different with the short-styled plants. The one which grew close to the long-styled plant produced ninety-four imperfectly fertilised capsules containing a multitude of bad seeds, with a moderate number of good ones. The two other short-styled plants growing together were small, being partly smothered by other plants; they did not stand very close to any long-styled plants, yet they yielded together nineteen capsules. These facts seem to show that the short-styled plants are more fertile with their own pollen than are the long-styled, and we shall immediately see that this probably is the case. But I suspect that the difference in fertility between the two forms was in this instance in part due to a distinct cause. I repeatedly watched the flowers, and only once saw a humble-bee momentarily alight on one, and then fly away. If bees had visited the several plants, there cannot be a doubt that the four long-styled plants, which did not produce a single capsule, would have borne an abundance. But several times I saw small diptera sucking the flowers; and these insects, though not visiting the flowers with anything like the regularity of bees, would carry a little pollen from one form to the other, especially when growing near together; and the stigmas of the short-styled plants, diverging within the tube of the corolla, would be more likely than the upright stigmas of the long-styled plants, to receive a small quantity of pollen if brought to them by small insects. Moreover from the greater number of the long-styled than of the short-styled plants in the garden, the latter would be more likely to receive pollen from the long-styled, than the long-styled from the short-styled. In 1862 I raised thirty-four plants of this Linum in a hot-bed; and these consisted of seventeen long-styled and seventeen short-styled forms. Seed sown later in the flower-garden yielded seventeen long-styled and twelve short-styled forms. These facts justify the statement that the two forms are produced in about equal numbers. The thirty-four plants of the first lot were kept under a net which excluded all insects, except such minute ones as Thrips. I fertilised fourteen long-styled flowers legitimately with pollen from the short-styled, and got eleven fine seed-capsules, which contained on an average 8.6 seeds per capsule, but only 5.6 appeared to be good. It may be well to state that ten seeds is the maximum production for a capsule, and that our climate cannot be very favourable to this North-African plant. On three occasions the stigmas of nearly a hundred flowers were fertilised illegitimately with their own-form pollen, taken from separate plants, so as to prevent any possible ill effects from close inter-breeding. Many other flowers were also produced, which, as before stated, must have received plenty of their own pollen; yet from all these flowers, borne by the seventeen long-styled plants, only three capsules were produced. One of these included no seed, and the other two together gave only five good seeds. It is probable that this miserable product of two half-fertile capsules from the seventeen plants, each of which must have produced at least fifty or sixty flowers, resulted from their fertilisation with pollen from the short-styled plants by the aid of Thrips; for I made a great mistake in keeping the two forms under the same net, with their branches often interlocking; and it is surprising that a greater number of flowers were not accidentally fertilised. Twelve short-styled flowers were in this instance castrated, and afterwards fertilised legitimately with pollen from the long-styled form; and they produced seven fine capsules. These included on an average 7.6 seeds, but of apparently good seed only 4.3 per capsule. At three separate times nearly a hundred flowers were fertilised illegitimately with their own-form pollen, taken from separate plants; and numerous other flowers were produced, many of which must have received their own pollen. From all these flowers on the seventeen short-styled plants only fifteen capsules were produced, of which only eleven contained any good seed, on an average 4.2 per capsule. As remarked in the case of the long- styled plants, some even of these capsules were perhaps the product of a little pollen accidentally fallen from the adjoining flowers of the other form on to the stigmas, or transported by Thrips. Nevertheless the short-styled plants seem to be slightly more fertile with their own pollen than the long-styled, in the proportion of fifteen capsules to three; nor can this difference be accounted for by the short-styled stigmas being more liable to receive their own pollen than the long-styled, for the reverse is the case. The greater self-fertility of the short-styled flowers was likewise shown in 1861 by the plants in my flower- garden, which were left to themselves, and were but sparingly visited by insects. On account of the probability of some of the flowers on the plants of both forms, which were covered under the same net, having been legitimately fertilised in an accidental manner, the relative fertility of the two legitimate and two illegitimate unions cannot be compared with certainty; but judging from the number of good seeds per capsule, the difference was at least in the ratio of 100 to 7, and probably much greater. Hildebrand tested my results, but only on a single short-styled plant, by fertilising many flowers with their own-form pollen; and these did not produce any seed. This confirms my suspicion that some of the few capsules produced by the foregoing seventeen short-styled plants were the product of accidental legitimate fertilisation. Other flowers on the same plant were fertilised by Hildebrand with pollen from the long-styled form, and all produced fruit. (3/2. 'Botanische Zeitung' January 1, 1864 page 2.) The absolute sterility (judging from the experiments of 1861) of the long-styled plants with their own-form pollen led me to examine into its apparent cause; and the results are so curious that they are worth giving in detail. The experiments were tried on plants grown in pots and brought successively into the house. FIRST. Pollen from a short-styled plant was placed on the five stigmas of a long-styled flower, and these, after thirty hours, were found deeply penetrated by a multitude of pollen-tubes, far too numerous to be counted; the stigmas had also become discoloured and twisted. I repeated this experiment on another flower, and in eighteen hours the stigmas were penetrated by a multitude of long pollen- tubes. This is what might have been expected, as the union is a legitimate one. The converse experiment was likewise tried, and pollen from a long-styled flower was placed on the stigmas of a short-styled flower, and in twenty-four hours the stigmas were discoloured, twisted, and penetrated by numerous pollen-tubes; and this, again, is what might have been expected, as the union was a legitimate one. SECONDLY. Pollen from a long-styled flower was placed on all five stigmas of a long-styled flower on a separate plant: after nineteen hours the stigmas were dissected, and only a single pollen-grain had emitted a tube, and this was a very short one. To make sure that the pollen was good, I took in this case, and in most of the other cases, pollen either from the same anther or from the same flower, and proved it to be good by placing it on the stigma of a short-styled plant, and found numerous pollen-tubes emitted. THIRDLY. Repeated last experiment, and placed own-form pollen on all five stigmas of a long-styled flower; after nineteen hours and a half, not one single grain had emitted its tube. FOURTHLY. Repeated the experiment, with the same result after twenty-four hours. FIFTHLY. Repeated last experiment, and, after leaving pollen on for nineteen hours, put on an additional quantity of own-form pollen on all five stigmas. After an interval of three days, the stigmas were examined, and, instead of being discoloured and twisted, they were straight and fresh-coloured. Only one grain had emitted a quite short tube, which was drawn out of the stigmatic tissue without being ruptured. The following experiments are more striking:-- SIXTHLY. I placed own-form pollen on three of the stigmas of a long-styled flower, and pollen from a short-styled flower on the other two stigmas. After twenty-two hours these two stigmas were discoloured, slightly twisted, and penetrated by the tubes of numerous pollen-grains: the other three stigmas, covered with their own-form pollen, were fresh, and all the pollen-grains were loose; but I did not dissect the whole stigma. SEVENTHLY. Experiment repeated in the same manner, with the same result. EIGHTHLY. Experiment repeated, but the stigmas were carefully examined after an interval of only five hours and a half. The two stigmas with pollen from a short-styled flower were penetrated by innumerable tubes, which were as yet short, and the stigmas themselves were not at all discoloured. The three stigmas covered with their own-form pollen were not penetrated by a single pollen-tube. NINTHLY. Put pollen of a short-styled flower on a single long-styled stigma, and own-form pollen on the other four stigmas; after twenty-four hours the one stigma was somewhat discoloured and twisted, and penetrated by many long tubes: the other four stigmas were quite straight and fresh; but on dissecting them I found that three pollen-grains had protruded very short tubes into the tissue. TENTHLY. Repeated the experiment, with the same result after twenty-four hours, excepting that only two own-form grains had penetrated the stigmatic tissue with their tubes to a very short depth. The one stigma, which was deeply penetrated by a multitude of tubes from the short-styled pollen, presented a conspicuous difference in being much curled, half-shrivelled, and discoloured, in comparison with the other four straight and bright pink stigmas. I could add other experiments; but those now given amply suffice to show that the pollen-grains of a short-styled flower placed on the stigma of a long-styled flower emit a multitude of tubes after an interval of from five to six hours, and penetrate the tissue ultimately to a great depth; and that after twenty-four hours the stigmas thus penetrated change colour, become twisted, and appear half-withered. On the other hand, pollen-grains from a long-styled flower placed on its own stigmas, do not emit their tubes after an interval of a day, or even three days; or at most only three or four grains out of a multitude emit their tubes, and these apparently never penetrate the stigmatic tissue deeply, and the stigmas themselves do not soon become discoloured and twisted. This seems to me a remarkable physiological fact. The pollen-grains of the two forms are undistinguishable under the microscope; the stigmas differ only in length, degree of divergence, and in the size, shade of colour, and approximation of their papillae, these latter differences being variable and apparently due merely to the degree of elongation of the stigma. Yet we plainly see that the two kinds of pollen and the two stigmas are widely dissimilar in their mutual reaction--the stigmas of each form being almost powerless on their own pollen, but causing, through some mysterious influence, apparently by simple contact (for I could detect no viscid secretion), the pollen-grains of the opposite form to protrude their tubes. It may be said that the two pollens and the two stigmas mutually recognise each other by some means. Taking fertility as the criterion of distinctness, it is no exaggeration to say that the pollen of the long-styled Linum grandiflorum (and conversely that of the other form) has been brought to a degree of differentiation, with respect to its action on the stigma of the same form, corresponding with that existing between the pollen and stigma of species belonging to distinct genera. Linum perenne. This species is conspicuously heterostyled, as has been noticed by several authors. The pistil in the long-styled form is nearly twice as long as that of the short-styled. In the latter the stigmas are smaller and, diverging to a greater degree, pass out low down between the filaments. I could detect no difference in the two forms in the size of the stigmatic papillae. In the long- styled form alone the stigmatic surfaces of the mature pistils twist round, so as to face the circumference of the flower; but to this point I shall presently return. Differently from what occurs in L. grandiflorum, the long-styled flowers have stamens hardly more than half the length of those in the short-styled. The size of the pollen-grains is rather variable; after some doubt, I have come to the conclusion that there is no uniform difference between the grains in the two forms. The long-stamens in the short-styled form project to some height above the corolla, and their filaments are coloured blue apparently from exposure to the light. The anthers of the longer stamens correspond in height with the lower part of the stigmas of the long-styled flowers; and the anthers of the shorter stamens of the latter correspond in the same manner in height with the stigmas of the short-styled flowers. I raised from seed twenty-six plants, of which twelve proved to be long-styled and fourteen short-styled. They flowered well, but were not large plants. As I did not expect them to flower so soon, I did not transplant them, and they unfortunately grew with their branches closely interlocked. All the plants were covered under the same net, excepting one of each form. Of the flowers on the long-styled plants, twelve were illegitimately fertilised with their own-form pollen, taken in every case from a separate plant; and not one set a seed- capsule: twelve other flowers were legitimately fertilised with pollen from short-styled flowers; and they set nine capsules, each including on an average 7 good seeds, ten being the maximum number ever produced. Of the flowers on the short-styled plants, twelve were illegitimately fertilised with own-form pollen, and they yielded one capsule, including only 3 good seeds; twelve other flowers were legitimately fertilised with pollen from long-styled flowers, and these produced nine capsules, but one was bad; the eight good capsules contained on an average 8 good seeds each. Judging from the number of seeds per capsule, the fertility of the two legitimate to that of the two illegitimate unions is as 100 to 20. The numerous flowers on the eleven long-styled plants under the net, which were not fertilised, produced only three capsules, including 8, 4, and 1 good seeds. Whether these three capsules were the product of accidental legitimate fertilisation, owing to the branches of the plants of the two forms interlocking, I will not pretend to decide. The single long-styled plant which was left uncovered, and grew close by the uncovered short-styled plant, produced five good pods; but it was a poor and small plant. The flowers borne on the thirteen short-styled plants under the net, which were not fertilised, produced twelve capsules, containing on an average 5.6 seeds. As some of these capsules were very fine, and as five were borne on one twig, I suspect that some minute insect had accidentally got under the net and had brought pollen from the other form to the flowers which produced this little group of capsules. The one uncovered short-styled plant which grew close to the uncovered long-styled plant yielded twelve capsules. From these facts we have some reason to believe, as in the case of L. grandiflorum, that the short-styled plants are in a slight degree more fertile with their own pollen than are the long-styled plants. Anyhow we have the clearest evidence, that the stigmas of each form require for full fertility that pollen from the stamens of corresponding height belonging to the opposite form should be brought to them. Hildebrand, in the paper lately referred to, confirms my results. He placed a short-styled plant in his house, and fertilised about 20 flowers with their own pollen, and about 30 with pollen from another plant belonging to the same form, and these 50 flowers did not set a single capsule. On the other hand he fertilised about 30 flowers with pollen from the long-styled form, and these, with the exception of two, yielded capsules, containing good seeds. It is a singular fact, in contrast with what occurred in the case of L. grandiflorum, that the pollen-grains of both forms of L. perenne, when placed on their own-form stigmas, emitted their tubes, though this action did not lead to the production of seeds. After an interval of eighteen hours, the tubes penetrated the stigmatic tissue, but to what depth I did not ascertain. In this case the impotence of the pollen-grains on their own stigmas must have been due either to the tubes not reaching the ovules, or to their not acting properly after reaching them. The plants both of L. perenne and grandiflorum, grew, as already stated, with their branches interlocked, and with scores of flowers of the two forms close together; they were covered by a rather coarse net, through which the wind, when high, passed; and such minute insects as Thrips could not, of course, be excluded; yet we have seen that the utmost possible amount of accidental fertilisation on seventeen long-styled plants in the one case, and on eleven long-styled plants in the other, resulted in the production, in each case, of three poor capsules; so that when the proper insects are excluded, the wind does hardly anything in the way of carrying pollen from plant to plant. I allude to this fact because botanists in speaking of the fertilisation of various flowers, often refer to the wind or to insects as if the alternative were indifferent. This view, according to my experience, is entirely erroneous. When the wind is the agent in carrying pollen, either from one sex to the other, or from hermaphrodite to hermaphrodite, we can recognise structure as manifestly adapted to its action as to that of insects when these are the carriers. We see adaptation to the wind in the incoherence of the pollen,--in the inordinate quantity produced (as in the Coniferae, Spinage, etc.),--in the dangling anthers well fitted to shake out the pollen,--in the absence or small size of the perianth,--in the protrusion of the stigmas at the period of fertilisation,--in the flowers being produced before they are hidden by the leaves,--and in the stigmas being downy or plumose (as in the Gramineae, Docks, etc), so as to secure the chance-blown grains. In plants which are fertilised by the wind, the flowers do not secrete nectar, their pollen is too incoherent to be easily collected by insects, they have not bright-coloured corollas to serve as guides, and they are not, as far as I have seen, visited by insects. When insects are the agents of fertilisation (and this is incomparably the more frequent case with hermaphrodite plants), the wind plays no part, but we see an endless number of adaptations to ensure the safe transport of the pollen by the living workers. These adaptations are most easily recognised in irregular flowers; but they are present in regular flowers, of which those of Linum offer a good instance, as I will now endeavour to show. I have already alluded to the rotation of each separate stigma in the long- styled form of Linum perenne. In both forms of the other heterostyled species and in the homostyled species of Linum which I have seen, the stigmatic surfaces face the centre of the flower, with the furrowed backs of the stigmas, to which the styles are attached, facing outwards. This is the case with the stigmas of the long-styled flowers of L. perenne whilst in bud. But by the time the flowers have expanded, the five stigmas twist round so as to face the circumference, owing to the torsion of that part of the style which lies beneath the stigma. I should state that the five stigmas do not always turn round completely, two or three sometimes facing only obliquely outwards. My observations were made during October; and it is not improbable that earlier in the season the torsion would have been more complete; for after two or three cold and wet days the movement was very imperfectly performed. The flowers should be examined shortly after their expansion, as their duration is brief; as soon as they begin to wither, the styles become spirally twisted all together, the original position of the parts being thus lost. He who will compare the structure of the whole flower in both forms of L. perenne and grandiflorum, and, as I may add, of L. flavum, will not doubt about the meaning of this torsion of the styles in the one form alone of L. perenne, as well as the meaning of the divergence of the stigmas in the short-styled form of all three species. It is absolutely necessary as we know, that insects should carry pollen from the flowers of the one form reciprocally to those of the other. Insects are attracted by five drops of nectar, secreted exteriorly at the base of the stamens, so that to reach these drops they must insert their proboscides outside the ring of broad filaments, between them and the petals. In the short-styled form of the above three species, the stigmas face the axis of the flower; and had the styles retained their original upright and central position, not only would the stigmas have presented their backs to the insects which sucked the flowers, but their front and fertile surfaces would have been separated from the entering insects by the ring of broad filaments, and would never have received any pollen. As it is, the styles diverge and pass out between the filaments. After this movement the short stigmas lie within the tube of the corolla; and their papillous surfaces being now turned upwards are necessarily brushed by every entering insect, and thus receive the required pollen. In the long-styled form of L. grandiflorum, the almost parallel or slightly diverging anthers and stigmas project a little above the tube of the somewhat concave flower; and they stand directly over the open space leading to the drops of nectar. Consequently when insects visit the flowers of either form (for the stamens in this species occupy the same position in both forms), they will get their foreheads or proboscides well dusted with the coherent pollen. As soon as they visit the flowers of the long-styled form they will necessarily leave pollen on the proper surface of the elongated stigmas; and when they visit the short-styled flowers, they will leave pollen on the upturned stigmatic surfaces. Thus the stigmas of both forms will receive indifferently the pollen of both forms; but we know that the pollen alone of the opposite form causes fertilisation. (Figure 3.5. Long-styled form of L. perenne var. Austriacum in its early condition before the stigmas have rotated. The petals and calyx have been removed on the near side. (3/3. I neglected to get drawings made from fresh flowers of the two forms. But Mr. Fitch has made the above sketch of a long- styled flower from dried specimens and from published engravings. His well-known skill ensures accuracy in the proportional size of the parts.) In the case of L. perenne, affairs are arranged more perfectly; for the stamens in the two forms stand at different heights, so that pollen from the anthers of the longer stamens will adhere to one part of an insect's body, and will afterwards be brushed off by the rough stigmas of the longer pistils; whilst pollen from the anthers of the shorter stamens will adhere to a different part of the insect's body, and will afterwards be brushed off by the stigmas of the shorter pistils; and this is what is required for the legitimate fertilisation of both forms. The corolla of L. perenne is more expanded than that of L. grandiflorum, and the stigmas of the long-styled form do not diverge greatly from one another; nor do the stamens of either form. Hence insects, especially rather small ones, will not insert their proboscides between the stigmas of the long-styled form, nor between the anthers of either form (Figure 3.5), but will strike against them, at nearly right angles, with the backs of their head or thorax. Now, in the long-styled flowers, if each stigma did not rotate on its axis, insects in visiting them would strike their heads against the backs of the stigmas; as it is, they strike against that surface which is covered with papillae, with their heads already charged with pollen from the stamens of corresponding height borne by the flowers of the other form, and legitimate fertilisation is thus ensured. Thus we can understand the meaning of the torsion of the styles in the long- styled flowers alone, as well as their divergence in the short-styled flowers. One other point is worth notice. In botanical works many flowers are said to be fertilised in the bud. This statement generally rests, as far as I can discover, on the anthers opening in the bud; no evidence being adduced that the stigma is at this period mature, or that it is not subsequently acted on by pollen brought from other flowers. In the case of Cephalanthera grandiflora I have shown that precocious and partial self-fertilisation, with subsequent full fertilisation, is the regular course of events. (3/4. 'Fertilisation of Orchids' page 108; 2nd edition 1877 page 84.) The belief that the flowers of many plants are fertilised in the bud, that is, are perpetually self-fertilised, is a most effectual bar to understanding their real structure. I am, however, far from wishing to assert that some flowers, during certain seasons, are not fertilised in the bud; for I have reason to believe that this is the case. A good observer, resting his belief on the usual kind of evidence, states that in Linum Austriacum (which is heterostyled, and is considered by Planchon as a variety of L. perenne) the anthers open the evening before the expansion of the flowers, and that the stigmas are then almost always fertilised. (3/5. H. Lecoq 'Etudes sur la Geogr. Bot.' 1856 tome 5 page 325.) Now we know positively that, so far from Linum perenne being fertilised by its own pollen in the bud, its own pollen is as powerless on the stigma as so much inorganic dust. Linum flavum. The pistil of the long-styled form of this species is nearly twice as long as that of the short-styled; the stigmas are longer and the papillae coarser. In the short-styled form the stigmas diverge and pass out between the filaments, as in the previous species. The stamens in the two forms differ in length; and, what is singular, the anthers of the longer stamens are not so long as those of the other form; so that in the short-styled form both the stigmas and the anthers are shorter than in the long-styled form. The pollen-grains of the two forms do not differ in size. As this species is propagated by cuttings, generally all the plants in the same garden belong to the same form. I have inquired, but have never heard of its seeding in this country. Certainly my own plants never produced a single seed as long as I possessed only one of the two forms. After considerable search I procured both forms, but from want of time only a few experiments were made. Two plants of the two forms were planted some way apart in my garden, and were not covered by nets. Three flowers on the long- styled plant were legitimately fertilised with pollen from the short-styled plant, and one of them set a fine capsule. No other capsules were produced by this plant. Three flowers on the short-styled plant were legitimately fertilised with pollen from the long-styled, and all three produced capsules, containing respectively no less than 8, 9, and 10 seeds. Three other flowers on this plant, which had not been artificially fertilised, produced capsules containing 5, 1, and 5 seeds; and it is quite possible that pollen may have been brought to them by insects from the long-styled plant growing in the same garden. Nevertheless, as they did not yield half the number of seeds compared with the other flowers on the same plant which had been artificially and legitimately fertilised, and as the short-styled plants of the two previous species apparently evince some slight capacity for fertilisation with their own-form pollen, these three capsules may have been the product of self-fertilisation. Besides the three species now described, the yellow-flowered L. corymbiferum is certainly heterostyled, as is, according to Planchon, L. salsoloides. (3/6. Hooker's 'London Journal of Botany' 1848 volume 7 page 174.) This botanist is the only one who seems to have inferred that heterostylism might have some important functional bearing. Dr. Alefeld, who has made a special study of the genus, says that about half of the sixty-five species known to him are heterostyled. (3/7. 'Botanische Zeitung' September 18, 1863 page 281.) This is the case with L. trigynum, which differs so much from the other species that it has been formed by him into a distinct genus. (3/8. It is not improbable that the allied genus, Hugonia, is heterostyled, for one species is said by Planchon (Hooker's 'London Journal of Botany' 1848 volume 7 page 525) to be provided with "staminibus exsertis;" another with "stylis staminibus longioribus," and another has "stamina 5, majora, stylos longe superantia.") According to the same author, none of the species which inhabit America and the Cape of Good Hope are heterostyled. I have examined only three homostyled species, namely, L. usitatissimum, angustifolium, and catharticum. I raised 111 plants of a variety of the first- named species, and these, when protected under a net, all produced plenty of seed. The flowers, according to H. Muller, are frequented by bees and moths. (3/9. 'Die Befruchtung der Blumen' etc. page 168.) With respect to L. catharticum, the same author shows that the flowers are so constructed that they can freely fertilise themselves; but if visited by insects they might be cross- fertilised. He has, however, only once seen the flowers thus visited during the day; but it may be suspected that they are frequented during the night by small moths for the sake of the five minute drops of nectar secreted. Lastly, L. Lewisii is said by Planchon to bear on the same plant flowers with stamens and pistils of the same height, and others with the pistils either longer or shorter than the stamens. This case formerly appeared to me an extraordinary one; but I am now inclined to believe that it is one merely of great variability. (3/10. Planchon in Hooker's 'London Journal of Botany' 1848 volume 7 page 175. See on this subject Asa Gray in 'American Journal of Science' volume 36 September 1863 page 284.) PULMONARIA (BORAGINEAE). Pulmonaria officinalis. Hildebrand has published a full account of this heterostyled plant. (3/11. 'Botanische Zeitung' 1865 January 13 page 13.) The pistil of the long-styled form is twice as long as that of the short-styled; and the stamens differ in a corresponding, though converse, manner. There is no marked difference in the shape or state of surface of the stigma in the two forms. The pollen-grains of the short-styled form are to those of the long-styled as 9 to 7, or as 100 to 78, in length, and as 7 to 6 in breadth. They do not differ in the appearance of their contents. The corolla of the one form differs in shape from that of the other in nearly the same manner as in Primula; but besides this difference the flowers of the short-styled are generally the larger of the two. Hildebrand collected on the Siebengebirge, ten wild long-styled and ten short-styled plants. The former bore 289 flowers, of which 186 (i.e. 64 per cent) had set fruit, yielding 1.88 seed per fruit. The ten short-styled plants bore 373 flowers, of which 262 (i.e. 70 per cent) had set fruit, yielding 1.86 seed per fruit. So that the short-styled plants produced many more flowers, and these set a rather larger proportion of fruit, but the fruits themselves yielded a slightly lower average number of seeds than did the long-styled plants. The results of Hildebrand's experiments on the fertility of the two forms are given in Table 3.19. TABLE 3.19. Pulmonaria officinalis (from Hildebrand). Column 1: Nature of the Union. Column 2: Number of Flowers fertilised. Column 3: Number of Fruits produced. Column 4: Average Number of Seeds per Fruit. Long-styled by pollen of short-styled. Legitimate union : 14 : 10 : 1.30. Long-styled 14 by own-pollen, and 16 by pollen of other plant of same form. Illegitimate union : 30 : 0 : 0. Short-styled by pollen of long-styled. Legitimate union: 16 : 14 : 1.57. Short-styled 11 by own-pollen, 14 by pollen of other plant of same form. Illegitimate union : 25 : 0 : 0. In the summer of 1864, before I had heard of Hildebrand's experiments, I noticed some long-styled plants of this species (named for me by Dr. Hooker) growing by themselves in a garden in Surrey; and to my surprise about half the flowers had set fruit, several of which contained 2, and one contained even 3 seeds. These seeds were sown in my garden and eleven seedlings thus raised, all of which proved long-styled, in accordance with the usual rule in such cases. Two years afterwards the plants were left uncovered, no other plant of the same genus growing in my garden, and the flowers were visited by many bees. They set an abundance of seeds: for instance, I gathered from a single plant rather less than half of the seeds which it had produced, and they numbered 47. Therefore this illegitimately fertilised plant must have produced about 100 seeds; that is, thrice as many as one of the wild long-styled plants collected on the Siebengebirge by Hildebrand, and which, no doubt, had been legitimately fertilised. In the following year one of my plants was covered by a net, and even under these unfavourable conditions it produced spontaneously a few seeds. It should be observed that as the flowers stand either almost horizontally or hang considerably downwards, pollen from the short stamens would be likely to fall on the stigma. We thus see that the English long-styled plants when illegitimately fertilised were highly fertile, whilst the German plants similarly treated by Hildebrand were completely sterile. How to account for this wide discordance in our results I know not. Hildebrand cultivated his plants in pots and kept them for a time in the house, whilst mine were grown out of doors; and he thinks that this difference of treatment may have caused the difference in our results. But this does not appear to me nearly a sufficient cause, although his plants were slightly less productive than the wild ones growing on the Siebengbirge. My plants exhibited no tendency to become equal-styled, so as to lose their proper long-styled character, as not rarely happens under cultivation with several heterostyled species of Primula; but it would appear that they had been greatly affected in function, either by long-continued cultivation or by some other cause. We shall see in a future chapter that heterostyled plants illegitimately fertilised during several successive generations sometimes become more self-fertile; and this may have been the case with my stock of the present species of Pulmonaria; but in this case we must assume that the long-styled plants were at first sufficiently fertile to yield some seed, instead of being absolutely self-sterile like the German plants. Pulmonaria angustifolia. (FIGURE 3.6. Pulmonaria angustifolia. Left: Long-styled form. Right: Short-styled form.) Seedlings of this plant, raised from plants growing wild in the Isle of Wight, were named for me by Dr. Hooker. It is so closely allied to the last species, differing chiefly in the shape and spotting of the leaves, that the two have been considered by several eminent botanists--for instance, Bentham--as mere varieties. But, as we shall presently see, good evidence can be assigned for ranking them as distinct. Owing to the doubts on this head, I tried whether the two would mutually fertilise one another. Twelve short-styled flowers of P. angustifolia were legitimately fertilised with pollen from long-styled plants of P. officinalis (which, as we have just seen, are moderately self-fertile), but they did not produce a single fruit. Thirty-six long-styled flowers of P. angustifolia were also illegitimately fertilised during two seasons with pollen from the long-styled P. officinalis, but all these flowers dropped off unimpregnated. Had the plants been mere varieties of the same species these illegitimate crosses would probably have yielded some seeds, judging from my success in illegitimately fertilising the long-styled flowers of P. officinalis; and the twelve legitimate crosses, instead of yielding no fruit, would almost certainly have yielded a considerable number, namely, about nine, judging from the results given in Table 3.20. Therefore P. officinalis and angustifolia appear to be good and distinct species, in conformity with other important functional differences between them, immediately to be described. TABLE 3.20. Pulmonaria angustifolia. Column 1: Nature of the Union. Column 2: Number of Flowers fertilised. Column 3: Number of Fruits produced. Column 4: Average Number of Seeds per Fruit. Long-styled by pollen of short-styled. Legitimate union : 18 : 9 : 2.11. Long-styled by own-form pollen. Illegitimate union : 18 : 0 : 0. Short-styled by pollen of long-styled. Legitimate union: 18 : 15 : 2.60. Short-styled by own-form pollen. Illegitimate union : 12 : 7 : 1.86. The long-styled and short-styled flowers of P. angustifolia differ from one another in structure in nearly the same manner as those of P. officinalis. But in Figure 3.6 a slight bulging of the corolla in the long-styled form, where the anthers are seated, has been overlooked. My son William, who examined a large number of wild plants in the Isle of Wight, observed that the corolla, though variable in size, was generally larger in the long-styled flowers than in the short-styled; and certainly the largest corollas of all were found on the long- styled plants, and the smallest on the short-styled. Exactly the reverse occurs, according to Hildebrand, with P. officinalis. Both the pistils and stamens of P. angustifolia vary much in length; so that in the short-styled form the distance between the stigma and the anthers varied from 119 to 65 divisions of the micrometer, and in the long-styled from 115 to 112. From an average of seven measurements of each form the distance between these organs in the long-styled is to the same distance in the short-styled form as 100 to 69; so that the stigma in the one form does not stand on a level with the anthers in the other. The long-styled pistil is sometimes thrice as long as that of the short-styled; but from an average of ten measurements of both, its length to that of the short-styled was as 100 to 56. The stigma varies in being more or less, though slightly, lobed. The anthers also vary much in length in both forms, but in a greater degree in the long-styled than in the short-styled-form; many in the former being from 80 to 63, and in the latter from 80 to 70 divisions of the micrometer in length. From an average of seven measurements, the short-styled anthers were to those from the long-styled as 100 to 91 in length. Lastly, the pollen-grains from the long-styled flowers varied between 13 and 11.5 divisions of the micrometer, and those from the short-styled between 15 and 13. The average diameter of 25 grains from the latter, or short-styled form, was to that of 20 grains from the long-styled as 100 to 91. We see, therefore, that the pollen-grains from the smaller anthers of the shorter stamens in the long-styled form are, as usual, of smaller size than those in the other form. But what is remarkable, a larger proportion of the grains were small, shrivelled, and worthless. This could be seen by merely comparing the contents of the anthers from several distinct plants of each form. But in one instance my son found, by counting, that out of 193 grains from a long-styled flower, 53 were bad, or 27 per cent; whilst out of 265 grains from a short-styled flower only 18 were bad, or 7 per cent. From the condition of the pollen in the long-styled form, and from the extreme variability of all the organs in both forms, we may perhaps suspect that the plant is undergoing a change, and tending to become dioecious. My son collected in the Isle of Wight on two occasions 202 plants, of which 125 were long-styled and 77 short-styled; so that the former were the more numerous. On the other hand, out of 18 plants raised by me from seed, only 4 were long- styled and 14 short-styled. The short-styled plants seemed to my son to produce a greater number of flowers than the long-styled; and he came to this conclusion before a similar statement had been published by Hildebrand with respect to P. officinalis. My son gathered ten branches from ten different plants of both forms, and found the number of flowers of the two forms to be as 100 to 89, 190 being short-styled and 169 long-styled. With P. officinalis the difference, according to Hildebrand, is even greater, namely, as 100 flowers for the short- styled to 77 for the long-styled plants. Table 3.20 shows the results of my experiments. We see in Table 3.20 that the fertility of the two legitimate unions to that of the two illegitimate together is as 100 to 35, judged by the proportion of flowers which produced fruit; and as 100 to 32, judged by the average number of seeds per fruit. But the small number of fruit yielded by the 18 long-styled flowers in the first line was probably accidental, and if so, the difference in the proportion of legitimately and illegitimately fertilised flowers which yield fruit is really greater than that represented by the ratio of 100 to 35. The 18 long-styled flowers illegitimately fertilised yielded no seeds,--not even a vestige of one. Two long-styled plants which were placed under a net produced 138 flowers, besides those which were artificially fertilised, and none of these set any fruit; nor did some plants of the same form which were protected during the next summer. Two other long-styled plants were left uncovered (all the short-styled plants having been previously covered up), and humble-bees, which had their foreheads white with pollen, incessantly visited the flowers, so that their stigmas must have received an abundance of pollen, yet these flowers did not produce a single fruit. We may therefore conclude that the long-styled plants are absolutely barren with their own-form pollen, though brought from a distinct plant. In this respect they differ greatly from the long-styled English plants of P. officinalis which were found by me to be moderately self-fertile; but they agree in their behaviour with the German plants of P. officinalis experimented on by Hildebrand. Eighteen short-styled flowers legitimately fertilised yielded, as may be seen in Table 3.20, 15 fruits, each having on an average 2.6 seeds. Four of these fruits contained the highest possible number of seeds, namely 4, and four other fruits contained each 3 seeds. The 12 illegitimately fertilised short-styled flowers yielded 7 fruits, including on an average 1.86 seed; and one of these fruits contained the maximum number of 4 seeds. This result is very surprising in contrast with the absolute barrenness of the long-styled flowers when illegitimately fertilised; and I was thus led to attend carefully to the degree of self-fertility of the short-styled plants. A plant belonging to this form and covered by a net bore 28 flowers besides those which had been artificially fertilised, and of all these only two produced a fruit each including a single seed. This high degree of self-sterility no doubt depended merely on the stigmas not receiving any pollen, or not a sufficient quantity. For after carefully covering all the long-styled plants in my garden, several short-styled plants were left exposed to the visits of humble-bees, and their stigmas will thus have received plenty of short-styled pollen; and now about half the flowers, thus illegitimately fertilised, set fruit. I judge of this proportion partly from estimation and partly from having examined three large branches, which had borne 31 flowers, and these produced 16 fruits. Of the fruits produced 233 were collected (many being left ungathered), and these included on an average 1.82 seed. No less than 16 out of the 233 fruits included the highest possible number of seeds, namely 4, and 31 included 3 seeds. So we see how highly fertile these short-styled plants were when illegitimately fertilised with their own-form pollen by the aid of bees. The great difference in the fertility of the long and short-styled flowers, when both are illegitimately fertilised, is a unique case, as far as I have observed with heterostyled plants. The long-styled flowers when thus fertilised are utterly barren, whilst about half of the short-styled ones produce capsules, and these include a little above two-thirds of the number of seeds yielded by them when legitimately fertilised. The sterility of the illegitimately fertilised long-styled flowers is probably increased by the deteriorated condition of their pollen; nevertheless this pollen was highly efficient when applied to the stigmas of the short-styled flowers. With several species of Primula the short- styled flowers are much more sterile than the long-styled, when both are illegitimately fertilised; and it is a tempting view, as formerly remarked, that this greater sterility of the short-styled flowers is a special adaptation to check self-fertilisation, as their stigmas are eminently liable to receive their own pollen. This view is even still more tempting in the case of the long-styled form of Linum grandiflorum. On the other hand, with Pulmonaria angustifolia, it is evident, from the corolla projecting obliquely upwards, that pollen is much more likely to fall on, or to be carried by insects down to the stigma of the short-styled than of the long-styled flowers; yet the short-styled instead of being more sterile, as a protection against self-fertilisation, are far more fertile than the long-styled, when both are illegitimately fertilised. Pulmonaria azurea, according to Hildebrand, is not heterostyled. (3/12. 'Die Geschlechter-Vertheilung bei den Pflanzen' 1867 page 37.) [From an examination of dried flowers of Amsinckia spectabilis, sent me by Professor Asa Gray, I formerly thought that this plant, a member of the Boragineae, was heterostyled. The pistil varies to an extraordinary degree in length, being in some specimens twice as long as in others, and the point of insertion of the stamens likewise varies. But on raising many plants from seed, I soon became convinced that the whole case was one of mere variability. The first-formed flowers are apt to have stamens somewhat arrested in development, with very little pollen in their anthers; and in such flowers the stigma projects above the anthers, whilst generally it stands below and sometimes on a level with them. I could detect no difference in the size of the pollen-grain or in the structure of the stigma in the plants which differed most in the above respects; and all of them, when protected from the access of insects, yielded plenty of seeds. Again, from statements made by Vaucher, and from a hasty inspection, I thought at first that the allied Anchusa arvensis and Echium vulgare were heterostyled, but soon saw my error. From information given me, I examined dried flowers of another member of the Boragineae, Arnebia hispidissima, collected from several sites, and though the corolla, together with the included organs, differed much in length, there was no sign of heterostylism.] Polygonum fagopyrum (Polygonaceae). (FIGURE 3.7. Polygonum fagopyrum. (From H. Muller.) Upper figure, the long-styled form; lower figure, the short-styled. Some of the anthers have dehisced, others have not.) Hildebrand has shown that this plant, the common Buck-wheat, is heterostyled. (3/13. 'Die Geschlechter-Vertheilung' etc. 1867 page 34.) In the long-styled form (Figure 3.7), the three stigmas project considerably above the eight short stamens, and stand on a level with the anthers of the eight long stamens in the short-styled form; and so it is conversely with the stigmas and stamens of this latter form. I could perceive no difference in the structure of the stigmas in the two forms. The pollen-grains of the short-styled form are to those of the long-styled as 100 to 82 in diameter. This plant is therefore without doubt heterostyled. I experimented only in an imperfect manner on the relative fertility of the two forms. Short-styled flowers were dragged several times over two heads of flowers on long-styled plants, protected under a net, which were thus legitimately, though not fully, fertilised. They produced 22 seeds, or 11 per flower-head. Three flower-heads on long-styled plants received pollen in the same manner from other long-styled plants, and were thus illegitimately fertilised. They produced 14 seeds, or only 4.66 per flower-head. Two flower-heads on short-styled plants received pollen in like manner from long-styled flowers, and were thus legitimately fertilised. They produced 8 seeds, or 4 per flower-head. Four heads on short-styled plants similarly received pollen from other short- styled plants, and were thus illegitimately fertilised. They produced 9 seeds, or 2.25 per flower-head. The results from fertilising the flower-heads in the above imperfect manner cannot be fully trusted; but I may state that the four legitimately fertilised flower-heads yielded on an average 7.50 seeds per head; whereas the seven illegitimately fertilised heads yielded less than half the number, or on an average only 3.28 seeds. The legitimately crossed seeds from the long-styled flowers were finer than those from the illegitimately fertilised flowers on the same plants, in the ratio of 100 to 82, as shown by the weights of an equal number. About a dozen plants, including both forms, were protected under nets, and early in the season they produced spontaneously hardly any seeds, though at this period the artificially fertilised flowers produced an abundance; but it is a remarkable fact that later in the season, during September, both forms became highly self-fertile. They did not, however, produce so many seeds as some neighbouring uncovered plants which were visited by insects. Therefore the flowers of neither form when left to fertilise themselves late in the season without the aid of insects, are nearly so sterile as most other heterostyled plants. A large number of insects, namely 41 kinds as observed by H. Muller, visit the flowers for the sake of the eight drops of nectar. (3/14. 'Die Befruchtung' etc. page 175 and 'Nature' January 1, 1874 page 166.) He infers from the structure of the flowers that insects would be apt to fertilise them both illegitimately as well as legitimately; but he is mistaken in supposing that the long-styled flowers cannot spontaneously fertilise themselves. Differently to what occurs in the other genera hitherto noticed, Polygonum, though a very large genus, contains, as far as is at present known, only a single heterostyled species, namely the present one. H. Muller in his interesting description of several other species shows that P. bistorta is so strongly proterandrous (the anthers generally falling off before the stigmas are mature) that the flowers must be cross-fertilised by the many insects which visit them. Other species bear much less conspicuous flowers which secrete little or no nectar, and consequently are rarely visited by insects; these are adapted for self-fertilisation, though still capable of cross-fertilisation. According to Delpino, the Polygonaceae are generally fertilised by the wind, instead of by insects as in the present genus. [Leucosmia Burnettiana (Thymeliae). As Professor Asa Gray has expressed his belief that this species and L. acuminata, as well as some species in the allied genus Drymispermum, are dimorphic or heterostyled (3/15. 'American Journal of Science' 1865 page 101 and Seemann's 'Journal of Botany' volume 3 1865 page 305.), I procured from Kew, through the kindness of Dr. Hooker, two dried flowers of the former species, an inhabitant of the Friendly Islands in the Pacific. The pistil of the long-styled form is to that of the short-styled as 100 to 86 in length; the stigma projects just above the throat of the corolla, and is surrounded by five anthers, the tips of which reach up almost to its base; and lower down, within the tubular corolla, five other and rather smaller anthers are seated. In the short-styled form, the stigma stands some way down the tube of the corolla, nearly on a level with the lower anthers of the other form: it differs remarkably from the stigma of the long-styled form, in being more papillose, and in being longer in the ratio of 100 to 60. The anthers of the upper stamens in the short-styled form are supported on free filaments, and project above the throat of the corolla, whilst the anthers of the lower stamens are seated in the throat on a level with the upper stamens of the other form. The diameters of a considerable number of grains from both sets of anthers in both forms were measured, but they did not differ in any trustworthy degree. The mean diameter of twenty-two grains from the short-styled flower was to that of twenty-four grains from the long-styled, as 100 to 99. The anthers of the upper stamens in the short-styled form appeared to be poorly developed, and contained a considerable number of shrivelled grains which were omitted in striking the above average. Notwithstanding the fact of the pollen-grains from the two forms not differing in diameter in any appreciable degree, there can hardly be a doubt from the great difference in the two forms in the length of the pistil, and especially of the stigma, together with its more papillose condition in the short-styled form, that the present species is truly heterostyled. This case resembles that of Linum grandiflorum, in which the sole difference between the two forms consists in the length of the pistils and stigmas. From the great length of the tubular corolla of Leucosmia, it is clear that the flowers are cross-fertilised by large Lepidoptera or by honey-sucking birds, and the position of the stamens in two whorls one beneath the other, which is a character that I have not seen in any other heterostyled dimorphic plant, probably serves to smear the inserted organ thoroughly with pollen. Menyanthes trifoliata (Gentianeae). This plant inhabits marshes: my son William gathered 247 flowers from so many distinct plants, and of these 110 were long-styled, and 137 short-styled. The pistil of the long-styled form is in length to that of the short-styled in the ratio of about 3 to 2. The stigma of the former, as my son observed, is decidedly larger than that of the short-styled; but in both forms it varies much in size. The stamens of the short-styled are almost double the length of those of the long-styled; so that their anthers stand rather above the level of the stigma of the long-styled form. The anthers also vary much in size, but seem often to be of larger size in the short-styled flowers. My son made with the camera many drawings of the pollen-grains, and those from the short-styled flowers were in diameter in nearly the ratio of 100 to 84 to those from the long-styled flowers. I know nothing about the capacity for fertilisation in the two forms; but short-styled plants, living by themselves in the gardens at Kew, have produced an abundance of capsules, yet the seeds have never germinated; and this looks as if the short-styled form was sterile with its own pollen. Limnanthemum Indicum (Gentianeae). This plant is mentioned by Mr. Thwaites in his Enumeration of the Plants of Ceylon as presenting two forms; and he was so kind as to send me specimens preserved in spirits. The pistil of the long-styled form is nearly thrice as long (i.e. as 14 to 5) as that of the short-styled, and is very much thinner in the ratio of about 3 to 5. The foliaceous stigma is more expanded, and twice as large as that of the short-styled form. In the latter the stamens are about twice as long as those of the long-styled, and their anthers are larger in the ratio of 100 to 70. The pollen-grains, after having been long kept in spirits, were of the same shape and size in both forms. The ovules, according to Mr. Thwaites, are equally numerous (namely from 70 to 80) in the two forms. Villarsia [sp.?] (Gentianeae). Fritz Muller sent me from South Brazil dried flowers of this aquatic plant, which is closely allied to Limnanthemum. In the long-styled form the stigma stands some way above the anthers, and the whole pistil, together with the ovary, is in length to that of the short-styled form as about 3 to 2. In the latter form the anthers stand above the stigma, and the style is very short and thick; but the pistil varies a good deal in length, the stigma being either on a level with the tips of the sepals or considerably beneath them. The foliaceous stigma in the long-styled form is larger, with the expansions running farther down the style, than in the other form. One of the most remarkable differences between the two forms is that the anthers of the longer stamens in the short- styled flowers are conspicuously longer than those of the shorter stamens in the long-styled flowers. In the former the sub-triangular pollen-grains are larger; the ratio between their breadth (measured from one angle to the middle of the opposite side) and that of the grains from the long-styled flowers being about 100 to 75. Fritz Muller also informs me that the pollen of the short-styled flowers has a bluish tint, whilst that of the long-styled is yellow. When we treat of Lythrum salicaria we shall find a strongly marked contrast in the colour of the pollen in two of the forms. The three genera, Menyanthes, Limnanthemum, and Villarsia, now described, constitute a well-marked sub-tribe of the Gentianeae. All the species, as far as at present known, are heterostyled, and all inhabit aquatic or sub-aquatic stations. Forsythia suspensa (Oleaceae). Professor Asa Gray states that the plants of this species growing in the Botanic Gardens at Cambridge, U.S., are short-styled, but that Siebold and Zuccarini describe the long-styled form, and give figures of two forms; so that there can be little doubt, as he remarks, about the plant being dimorphic. (3/16. 'The American Naturalist' July 1873 page 422.) I therefore applied to Dr. Hooker, who sent me a dried flower from Japan, another from China, and another from the Botanic Gardens at Kew. The first proved to be long-styled, and the other two short-styled. In the long-styled form, the pistil is in length to that of the short-styled as 100 to 38, the lobes of the stigma being a little longer (as 10 to 9), but narrower and less divergent. This last character, however, may be only a temporary one. There seems to be no difference in the papillose condition of the two stigmas. In the short-styled form, the stamens are in length to those of the long-styled as 100 to 66, but the anthers are shorter in the ratio of 87 to 100; and this is unusual, for when there is any difference in size between the anthers of the two forms, those from the longer stamens of the short-styled are generally the longest. The pollen-grains from the short-styled flowers are certainly larger, but only in a slight degree, than those from the long-styled, namely, as 100 to 94 in diameter. The short-styled form, which grows in the Gardens at Kew, has never there produced fruit. Forsythia viridissima appears likewise to be heterostyled; for Professor Asa Gray says that although the long-styled form alone grows in the gardens at Cambridge, U.S., the published figures of this species belong to the short- styled form. Cordia [sp.?] (Cordiaceae). Fritz Muller sent me dried specimens of this shrub, which he believes to be heterostyled; and I have not much doubt that this is the case, though the usual characteristic differences are not well pronounced in the two forms. Linum grandiflorum shows us that a plant may be heterostyled in function in the highest degree, and yet the two forms may have stamens of equal length, and pollen-grains of equal size. In the present species of Cordia, the stamens of both forms are of nearly equal length, those of the short-styled being rather the longest; and the anthers of both are seated in the mouth of the corolla. Nor could I detect any difference in the size of the pollen-grains, when dry or after being soaked in water. The stigmas of the long-styled form stand clear above the anthers, and the whole pistil is longer than that of the short-styled, in about the ratio of 3 to 2. The stigmas of the short-styled form are seated beneath the anthers, and they are considerably shorter than those of the long-styled form. This latter difference is the most important one of any between the two forms. Gilia (Ipomopsis) pulchella vel aggregata (Polemoniaceae). Professor Asa Gray remarks with respect to this plant: "the tendency to dimorphism, of which there are traces, or perhaps rather incipient manifestations in various portions of the genus, is most marked in G. aggregata." (3/17. 'Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.' June 14, 1870 page 275.) He sent me some dried flowers, and I procured others from Kew. They differ greatly in size, some being nearly twice as long as others (namely as 30 to 17), so that it was not possible to compare, except by calculation, the absolute length of the organs from different plants. Moreover, the relative position of the stigmas and anthers is variable: in some long- styled flowers the stigmas and anthers were exserted only just beyond the throat of the corolla; whilst in others they were exserted as much as 4/10 of an inch. I suspect also that the pistil goes on growing for some time after the anthers have dehisced. Nevertheless it is possible to class the flowers under two forms. In some of the long-styled, the length of pistil to that of the short-styled was as 100 to 82; but this result was gained by reducing the size of the corollas to the same scale. In another pair of flowers the difference in length between the pistils of the two forms was certainly greater, but they were not actually measured. In the short-styled flowers whether large or small, the stigma is seated low down within the tube of the corolla. The papillae on the long-styled stigma are longer than those on the short-styled, in the ratio of 100 to 40. The filaments in some of the short-styled flowers were, to those of the long-styled, as 100 to 25 in length, the free, or unattached portion being alone measured; but this ratio cannot be trusted, owing to the great variability of the stamens. The mean diameter of eleven pollen-grains from long-styled flowers, and of twelve from the short-styled, was exactly the same. It follows from these several statements, that the difference in length and state of surface of the stigmas in the flowers is the sole reliable evidence that this species is heterostyled; for it would be rash to trust to the difference in the length of the pistils, seeing how variable they are. I should have left the case altogether doubtful, had it not been for the observations on the following species; and these leave little doubt on my mind that the present plant is truly heterostyled. Professor Gray informs me that in another species, G. coronopifolia, belonging to the same section of the genus, he can see no sign of dimorphism. Gilia (Leptosiphon) micrantha. A few flowers sent me from Kew had been somewhat injured, so that I cannot say anything positively with respect to the position and relative length of the organs in the two forms. But their stigmas differed almost exactly in the same manner as in the last species; the papillae on the long-styled stigma being longer than those on the short-styled, in the ratio of 100 to 42. My son measured nine pollen-grains from the long-styled, and the same number from the short-styled form; and the mean diameter of the former was to that of the latter as 100 to 81. Considering this difference, as well as that between the stigmas of the two forms, there can be no doubt that this species is heterostyled. So probably is Gilia nudicaulis, which likewise belongs to the Leptosiphon section of the genus, for I hear from Professor Asa Gray that in some individuals the style is very long, with the stigma more or less exserted, whilst in others it is deeply included within the tube; the anthers being always seated in the throat of the corolla. Phlox subulata (Polemoniaceae). Professor Asa Gray informs me that the greater number of the species in this genus have a long pistil, with the stigma more or less exserted; whilst several other species, especially the annuals, have a short pistil seated low down within the tube of the corolla. In all the species the anthers are arranged one below the other, the uppermost just protruding from the throat of the corolla. In Phlox subulata alone he has "seen both long and short styles; and here the short-styled plant has (irrespective of this character) been described as a distinct species (P. nivalis, P. Hentzii), and is apt to have a pair of ovules in each cell, while the long-styled P. subulata rarely shows more than one." (3/18. 'Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' June 14, 1870 page 248.) Some dried flowers of both forms were sent me by him, and I received others from Kew, but I have failed to make out whether the species is heterostyled. In two flowers of nearly equal size, the pistil of the long-styled form was twice as long as that of the short-styled; but in other cases the difference was not nearly so great. The stigma of the long-styled pistil stands nearly in the throat of the corolla; whilst in the short-styled it is placed low down--sometimes very low down in the tube, for it varies greatly in position. The stigma is more papillose, and of greater length (in one instance in the ratio of 100 to 67), in the short-styled flowers than in the long-styled. My son measured twenty pollen-grains from a short-styled flower, and nine from a long- styled, and the former were in diameter to the latter as 100 to 93; and this difference accords with the belief that the plant is heterostyled. But the grains from the short-styled varied much in diameter. He afterwards measured ten grains from a distinct long-styled flower, and ten from another plant of the same form, and these grains differed in diameter in the ratio of 100 to 90. The mean diameter of these two lots of twenty grains was to that of twelve grains from another short-styled flower as 100 to 75: here, then, the grains from the short-styled form were considerably smaller than those from the long-styled, which is the reverse of what occurred in the former instance, and of what is the general rule with heterostyled plants. The whole case is perplexing in the highest degree, and will not be understood until experiments are tried on living plants. The greater length, and more papillose condition of the stigma in the short-styled than in the long-styled flowers, looks as if the plant was heterostyled; for we know that with some species--for instance, Leucosmia and certain Rubiaceae--the stigma is longer and more papillose in the short-styled form, though the reverse of this holds good in Gilia, a member of the same family with Phlox. The similar position of the anthers in the two forms is somewhat opposed to the present species being heterostyled; as is the great difference in the length of the pistil in several short-styled flowers. But the extraordinary variability in diameter of the pollen-grains, and the fact that in one set of flowers the grains from the long-styled flowers were larger than those from the short-styled, is strongly opposed to the belief that Phlox subulata is heterostyled. Possibly this species was once heterostyled, but is now becoming sub-dioecious; the short-styled plants having been rendered more feminine in nature. This would account for their ovaries usually containing more ovules, and for the variable condition of their pollen-grains. Whether the long- styled plants are now changing their nature, as would appear to be the case from the variability of their pollen-grains, and are becoming more masculine, I will not pretend to conjecture; they might remain as hermaphrodites, for the coexistence of hermaphrodite and female plants of the same species is by no means a rare event. Erythroxylum [sp.?] (Erythroxylidae). (FIGURE 3.8. Erythroxylon [sp.?] Left: Long-styled form. Right: Short-styled form. From a sketch by Fritz Muller, magnified five times.) Fritz Muller sent me from South Brazil dried flowers of this tree, together with the drawings (Figure 3.8.), which show the two forms, magnified about five times, with the petals removed. In the long-styled form the stigmas project above the anthers, and the styles are nearly twice as long as those of the short-styled form, in which the stigmas stand beneath the anthers. The stigmas in many, but not in all the short-styled flowers are larger than those in the long-styled. The anthers of the short-styled flowers stand on a level with the stigmas of the other form; but the stamens are longer by only one-fourth or one- fifth of their own length than those of the long-styled. Consequently the anthers of the latter do not stand on a level with, but rather above the stigmas of the other form. Differently from what occurs in the following closely allied genus, Sethia, the stamens are of nearly equal length in the flowers of the same form. The pollen-grains of the short-styled flowers, measured in their dry state, are a little larger than those from the long-styled flowers in about the ratio of 100 to 93. (3/19. F. Muller remarks in his letter to me that the flowers, of which he carefully examined many specimens, are curiously variable in the number of their parts: 5 sepals and petals, 10 stamens and 3 pistils are the prevailing numbers; but the sepals and petals often vary from 5 to 7; the stamens from 10 to 14, and the pistils from 3 to 4.) Sethia acuminata (Erythroxylidae). Mr. Thwaites pointed out several years ago that this plant exists under two forms, which he designated as forma stylosa et staminea; and the flowers sent to me by him are clearly heterostyled. (3/20. 'Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniae' 1864 page 54.) In the long-styled form the pistil is nearly twice as long, and the stamens half as long as the corresponding organs in the short-styled form. The stigmas of the long-styled seem rather smaller than those of the short-styled. All the stamens in the short-styled flowers are of nearly equal length, whereas in long-styled they differ in length, being alternately a little longer and shorter; and this difference in the stamens of the two forms is probably related, as we shall hereafter see in the case of the short-styled flowers of Lythrum salicaria, to the manner in which insects can best transport pollen from the long-styled flowers to the stigmas of the short-styled. The pollen-grains from the short-styled flowers, though variable in size, are to those of the long-styled, as far as I could make out, as 100 to 83 in their longer diameter. Sethia obtusifolia is heterostyled like S. acuminata. Cratoxylon formosum (Hypericineae). Mr. Thiselton Dyer remarks that this tree, an inhabitant of Malacca and Borneo, appears to be heterostyled. (3/21. 'Journal of Botany' London 1872 page 26.) He sent me dried flowers, and the difference between the two forms is conspicuous. In the short-styled form the pistils are in length to those of the short-styled as 100 to 40, with their globular stigmas about twice as thick. These stand just above the numerous anthers and a little beneath the tips of the petals. In the short-styled form the anthers project high above the pistils, the stigmas of which diverge between the three bundles of stamens, and stand only a little above the tips of the sepals. The stamens in this form are to those of the long- styled as 100 to 86 in length; and therefore they do not differ so much in length as do the pistils. Ten pollen-grains from each form were measured, and those from the short-styled were to those from the long-styled as 100 to 86 in diameter. This plant, therefore, is in all respects a well-characterised heterostyled species. Aegiphila elata (Verbenaceae). Mr. Bentham was so kind as to send me dried flowers of this species and of Ae. mollis, both inhabitants of South America. The two forms differ conspicuously, as the deeply bifid stigma of the one, and the anthers of the other project far above the mouth of the corolla. In the long-styled form of the present species, the style is twice and a half as long as that of the short-styled. The divergent stigmas of the two forms do not differ much in length, nor as far as I could perceive in their papillae. In the long-styled flowers the filaments adhere to the corolla close up to the anthers, which are enclosed some way down within the tube. In the short-styled flowers the filaments are free above the point where the anthers are seated in the other form, and they project from the corolla to an equal height with that of the stigmas in the long-styled flowers. It is often difficult to measure with accuracy pollen-grains, which have long been dried and then soaked in water; but they here manifestly differed greatly in size. Those from the short-styled flowers were to those from the long-styled in diameter in about the ratio of 100 to 62. The two forms of Ae. mollis present a like difference in the length of their pistils and stamens. Aegiphila obdurata. Flowers of this bush were sent me from St. Catharina in Brazil, by Fritz Muller, and were named for me at Kew. They appeared at first sight grandly heterostyled, as the stigma of the long-styled form projects far out of the corolla, whilst the anthers are seated halfway down within the tube; whereas in the short-styled form the anthers project from the corolla and the stigma is enclosed in the tube at nearly the same level with the anthers of the other form. The pistil of the long-styled is to that of the short-styled as 100 to 60 in length, and the stigmas, taken by themselves, as 100 to 55. Nevertheless, this plant cannot be heterostyled. The anthers in the long-styled form are brown, tough, and fleshy, and less than half the length of those in the short-styled form, strictly as 44 to 100; and what is much more important, they were in a rudimentary condition in the two flowers examined by me, and did not contain a single grain of pollen. In the short-styled form, the divided stigma, which as we have seen is much shortened, is thicker and more fleshy than the stigma of the long-styled, and is covered with small irregular projections, formed of rather large cells. It had the appearance of having suffered from hyperthrophy, and is probably incapable of fertilisation. If this be so the plant is dioecious, and judging from the two species previously described, it probably was once heterostyled, and has since been rendered dioecious by the pistil in the one form, and the stamens in the other having become functionless and reduced in size. It is, however, possible that the flowers may be in the same state as those of the common thyme and of several other Labiatae, in which females and hermaphrodites regularly co-exist. Fritz Muller, who thought that the present plant was heterostyled, as I did at first, informs me that he found bushes in several places growing quite isolated, and that these were completely sterile; whilst two plants growing close together were covered with fruit. This fact agrees better with the belief that the species is dioecious than that it consists of hermaphrodites and females; for if any one of the isolated plants had been an hermaphrodite, it would probably have produced some fruit.] RUBIACEAE. This great natural family contains a much larger number of heterostyled genera than any other one, as yet known. Mitchella repens. Professor Asa Gray sent me several living plants collected when out of flower, and nearly half of these proved long-styled, and the other half short-styled. The white flowers, which are fragrant and which secrete plenty of nectar, always grow in pairs with their ovaries united, so that the two together produce "a berry-like double drupe." (3/22. A. Gray 'Manual of the Botany of the United States' 1856 page 172.) In my first series of experiments (1864) I did not suppose that this curious arrangement of the flowers would have any influence on their fertility; and in several instances only one of the two flowers in a pair was fertilised; and a large proportion or all of these failed to produce berries. In the ensuing year both flowers of each pair were invariably fertilised in the same manner; and the latter experiments alone serve to show the proportion of flowers which yield berries, when legitimately and illegitimately fertilised; but for calculating the average number of seeds per berry I have used those produced during both seasons. In the long-styled flowers the stigma projects just above the bearded throat of the corolla, and the anthers are seated some way down the tube. In the short- styled flowers those organs occupy reversed positions. In this latter form the fresh pollen-grains are a little larger and more opaque than those of the long- styled form. The results of my experiments are given in Table 3.21. TABLE 3.21. Mitchella repens. Column 1: Nature of the Union. Column 2: Number of Pairs of Flowers fertilised during the second season. Column 3: Number of Drupes produced during the second season. Column 4: Average Number of good Seeds per Drupe in all the Drupes during the two Seasons. Long-styled by pollen of short-styled. Legitimate union : 9 : 8 : 4.6. Long-styled by own-form pollen. Illegitimate union : 8 : 3 : 2.2. Short-styled by pollen of long-styled. Legitimate union: 8 : 7 : 4.1. Short-styled by own-form pollen. Illegitimate union : 9 : 0 : 2.0. The two legitimate unions together : 17 : 15 : 4.4. The two illegitimate unions together : 17 : 3 : 2.1. It follows from this table that 88 per cent of the paired flowers of both forms, when legitimately fertilised, yielded double berries, nineteen of which contained on an average 4.4 seeds, with a maximum in one of 8 seeds. Of the illegitimately fertilised paired flowers only 18 per cent yielded berries, six of which contained on an average only 2.1 seeds, with a maximum in one of 4 seeds. Thus the two legitimate unions are more fertile than the two illegitimate, according to the proportion of flowers which yielded berries, in the ratio of 100 to 20; and according to the average number of contained seeds as 100 to 47. Three long-styled and three short-styled plants were protected under separate nets, and they produced altogether only 8 berries, containing on an average only 1.5 seed. Some additional berries were produced which contained no seeds. The plants thus treated were therefore excessively sterile, and their slight degree of fertility may be attributed in part to the action of the many individuals of Thrips which haunted the flowers. Mr. J. Scott informs me that a single plant (probably a long-styled one), growing in the Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh, which no doubt was freely visited by insects, produced plenty of berries, but how many of them contained seeds was not observed. Borreria, nov. sp. near valerianoides (Rubiaceae). Fritz Muller sent me seeds of this plant, which is extremely abundant in St. Catharina, in South Brazil; and ten plants were raised, consisting of five long- styled and five short-styled. The pistil of the long-styled flowers projects just beyond the mouth of the corolla, and is thrice as long as that of the short-styled, and the divergent stigmas are likewise rather larger. The anthers in the long-styled form stand low down within the corolla, and are quite hidden. In the short-styled flowers the anthers project just above the mouth of the corolla, and the stigma stands low down within the tube. Considering the great difference in the length of the pistils in the two forms, it is remarkable that the pollen-grains differ very little in size, and Fritz Muller was struck with the same fact. In a dry state the grains from the short-styled flowers could just be perceived to be larger than those from the long-styled, and when both were swollen by immersion in water, the former were to the latter in diameter in the ratio of 100 to 92. In the long-styled flowers beaded hairs almost fill up the mouth of the corolla and project above it; they therefore stand above the anthers and beneath the stigma. In the short-styled flowers a similar brush of hairs is situated low down within the tubular corolla, above the stigma and beneath the anthers. The presence of these beaded hairs in both forms, though occupying such different positions, shows that they are probably of considerable functional importance. They would serve to guard the stigma of each form from its own pollen; but in accordance with Professor Kerner's view their chief use probably is to prevent the copious nectar being stolen by small crawling insects, which could not render any service to the species by carrying pollen from one form to the other. (3/23. 'Die Schutzmittel der Bluthen gegen unberufene Gaste' 1876 page 37.) The flowers are so small and so crowded together that I was not willing to expend time in fertilising them separately; but I dragged repeatedly heads of short-styled flowers over three long-styled flower-heads, which were thus legitimately fertilised; and they produced many dozen fruits, each containing two good seeds. I fertilised in the same manner three heads on the same long- styled plant with pollen from another long-styled plant, so that these were fertilised illegitimately, and they did not yield a single seed. Nor did this plant, which was of course protected by a net, bear spontaneously any seeds. Nevertheless another long-styled plant, which was carefully protected, produced spontaneously a very few seeds; so that the long-styled form is not always quite sterile with its own pollen. Faramea [sp.?] (Rubiaceae). (FIGURE 3.9. Faramea [sp.?] Left: Short-styled form. Right: Long-styled form. Outlines of flowers from dried specimens. Pollen-grains magnified 180 times, by Fritz Muller.) Fritz Muller has fully described the two forms of this remarkable plant, an inhabitant of South Brazil. (3/24. 'Botanische Zeitung' September 10, 1869 page 606.) In the long-styled form the pistil projects above the corolla, and is almost exactly twice as long as that of the short-styled, which is included within the tube. The former is divided into two rather short and broad stigmas, whilst the short-styled pistil is divided into two long, thin, sometimes much curled stigmas. The stamens of each form correspond in height or length with the pistils of the other form. The anthers of the short-styled form are a little larger than those of the long-styled; and their pollen-grains are to those of the other form as 100 to 67 in diameter. But the pollen-grains of the two forms differ in a much more remarkable manner, of which no other instance is known; those from the short-styled flowers being covered with sharp points; the smaller ones from the long-styled being quite smooth. Fritz Muller remarks that this difference between the pollen-grains of the two forms is evidently of service to the plant; for the grains from the projecting stamens of the short-styled form, if smooth, would have been liable to be blown away by the wind, and would thus have been lost; but the little points on their surfaces cause them to cohere, and at the same time favour their adhesion to the hairy bodies of insects, which merely brush against the anthers of these stamens whilst visiting the flowers. On the other hand, the smooth grains of the long-styled flowers are safely included within the tube of the corolla, so that they cannot be blown away, but are almost sure to adhere to the proboscis of an entering insect, which is necessarily pressed close against the enclosed anthers. It may be remembered that in the long-styled form of Linum perenne each separate stigma rotates on its own axis, when the flower is mature, so as to turn its papillose surface outwards. There can be no doubt that this movement, which is confined to the long-styled form, is effected in order that the proper surface of the stigma should receive pollen brought by insects from the other form. Now with Faramea, as Fritz Muller shows, it is the stamens which rotate on their axes in one of the two forms, namely, the short-styled, in order that their pollen should be brushed off by insects and transported to the stigmas of the other form. In the long-styled flowers the anthers of the short enclosed stamens do not rotate on their axes, but dehisce on their inner sides, as is the common rule with the Rubiaceae; and this is the best position for the adherence of the pollen-grains to the proboscis of an entering insect. Fritz Muller therefore infers that as the plant became heterostyled, and as the stamens of the short- styled form increased in length, they gradually acquired the highly beneficial power of rotating on their own axes. But he has further shown, by the careful examination of many flowers, that this power has not as yet been perfected; and, consequently, that a certain proportion of the pollen is rendered useless, namely, that from the anthers which do not rotate properly. It thus appears that the development of the plant has not as yet been completed; the stamens have indeed acquired their proper length, but not their full and perfect power of rotation. (3/25. Fritz Muller gives another instance of the want of absolute perfection in the flowers of another member of the Rubiaceae, namely, Posoqueria fragrans, which is adapted in a most wonderful manner for cross-fertilisation by the agency of moths. (See 'Botanische Zeitung' 1866 Number 17.) In accordance with the nocturnal habits of these insects, most of the flowers open only during the night; but some open in the day, and the pollen of such flowers is robbed, as Fritz Muller has often seen, by humble-bees and other insects, without any benefit being thus conferred on the plant.) The several points of difference in structure between the two forms of Faramea are highly remarkable. Until within a recent period, if any one had been shown two plants which differed in a uniform manner in the length of their stamens and pistils,--in the form of their stigmas,--in the manner of dehiscence and slightly in the size of their anthers,--and to an extraordinary degree in the diameter and structure of their pollen-grains, he would have declared it impossible that the two could have belonged to one and the same species. [Suteria (species unnamed in the herbarium at Kew.) (Rubiaceae). I owe to the kindness of Fritz Muller dried flowers of this plant from St. Catharina, in Brazil. In the long-styled form the stigma stands in the mouth of the corolla, above the anthers, which latter are enclosed within the tube, but only a short way down. In the short-styled form the anthers are placed in the mouth of the corolla above the stigma, which occupies the same position as the anthers in the other form, being seated only a short way down the tube. Therefore the pistil of the long-styled form does not exceed in length that of the short-styled in nearly so great a degree as in many other Rubiaceae. Nevertheless there is a considerable difference in the size of the pollen-grains in the two forms; for, as Fritz Muller informs me, those of the short-styled are to those of the long-styled as 100 to 75 in diameter. Houstonia coerulea (Rubiaceae). Professor Asa Gray has been so kind as to send me an abstract of some observations made by Dr. Rothrock on this plant. The pistil is exserted in the one form and the stamens in the other, as has long been observed. The stigmas of the long-styled form are shorter, stouter, and far more hispid than in the other form. The stigmatic hairs or papillae on the former are .04 millimetres, and on the latter only .023 millimetres in length. In the short-styled form the anthers are larger, and the pollen-grains, when distended with water, are to those from the long-styled form as 100 to 72 in diameter. Selected capsules from some long-styled plants growing in the Botanic Gardens at Cambridge, U.S., near where plants of the other form grew, contained on an average 13 seeds; but these plants must have been subjected to unfavourable conditions, for some long-styled plants in a state of nature yielded an average of 21.5 seeds per capsule. Some short-styled plants, which had been planted by themselves in the Botanic Gardens, where it was not likely that they would have been visited by insects that had previously visited long-styled plants, produced capsules, eleven of which were wholly sterile, but one contained 4, and another 8 seeds. So that the short-styled form seems to be very sterile with its own pollen. Professor Asa Gray informs me that the other North American species of this genus are likewise heterostyled. Oldenlandia [sp.?] (Rubiaceae). Mr. J. Scott sent me from India dried flowers of a heterostyled species of this genus, which is closely allied to the last. The pistil in the long-styled flowers is longer by about a quarter of its length, and the stamens shorter in about the same proportion, than the corresponding organs in the short-styled flowers. In the latter the anthers are longer, and the divergent stigmas decidedly longer and apparently thinner than in the long-styled form. Owing to the state of the specimens, I could not decide whether the stigmatic papillae were longer in the one form than in the other. The pollen-grains, distended with water, from the short-styled flowers were to those from the long-styled as 100 to 78 in diameter, as deduced from the mean of ten measurements of each kind. Hedyotis [sp.?] (Rubiaceae). Fritz Muller sent me from St. Catharina, in Brazil, dried flowers of a small delicate species, which grows on wet sand near the edges of fresh-water pools. In the long-styled form the stigma projects above the corolla, and stands on a level with the projecting anthers of the short-styled form; but in the latter the stigmas stand rather beneath the level of the anthers in the other or long- styled form, these being enclosed within the tube of the corolla. The pistil of the long-styled form is nearly thrice as long as that of the short-styled, or, speaking strictly, as 100 to 39; and the papillae on the stigma of the former are broader, in the ratio of 4 to 3, but whether longer than those of the short- styled, I could not decide. In the short-styled form, the anthers are rather larger, and the pollen-grains are to those from the long-styled flowers, as 100 to 88 in diameter. Fritz Muller sent me a second, small-sized species, which is likewise heterostyled. Coccocypselum [sp.?] (Rubiaceae). Fritz Muller also sent me dried flowers of this plant from St. Catharina, in Brazil. The exserted stigma of the long-styled form stands a little above the level of the exserted anthers of the short-styled form; and the enclosed stigma of the latter also stands a little above the level of the enclosed anthers in the long-styled form. The pistil of the long-styled is about twice as long as that of the short-styled, with its two stigmas considerably longer, more divergent, and more curled. Fritz Muller informs me that he could detect no difference in the size of the pollen-grains in the two forms. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that this plant is heterostyled. Lipostoma [sp.?] (Rubiaceae). Dried flowers of this plant, which grows in small wet ditches in St. Catharina, in Brazil, were likewise sent me by Fritz Muller. In the long-styled form the exserted stigma stands rather above the level of the exserted anthers of the other form; whilst in the short-styled form it stands on a level with the anthers of the other form. So that the want of strict correspondence in height between the stigmas and anthers in the two forms is reversed, compared with what occurs in Hedyotis. The long-styled pistil is to that of the short-styled as 100 to 36 in length; and its divergent stigmas are longer by fully one-third of their own length than those of the short-styled form. In the latter the anthers are a little larger, and the pollen-grains are as 100 to 80 in diameter, compared with those from the long-styled form. Cinchona micrantha (Rubiaceae). Dried specimens of both forms of this plant were sent me from Kew. (3/26. My attention was called to this plant by a drawing copied from Howard's 'Quinologia' Table 3 given by Mr. Markham in his 'Travels in Peru' page 539.) In the long-styled form the apex of the stigma stands just beneath the bases of the hairy lobes of the corolla; whilst the summits of the anthers are seated about halfway down the tube. The pistil is in length as 100 to 38 to that of the short-styled form. In the latter the anthers occupy the same position as the stigma of the other form, and they are considerably longer than those of the long-styled form. As the summit of the stigma in the short-styled form stands beneath the bases of the anthers, which are seated halfway down the corolla, the style has been extremely shortened in this form, its length to that of the long- styled being, in the specimens examined, only as 5.3 to 100! The stigma, also, in the short-styled form is very much shorter than that in the long-styled, in the ratio of 57 to 100. The pollen grains from the short-styled flowers, after having been soaked in water, were rather larger--in about the ratio of 100 to 91--than those from the long-styled flowers, and they were more triangular, with the angles more prominent. As all the grains from the short-styled flowers were thus characterised, and as they had been left in water for three days, I am convinced that this difference in shape in the two sets of grains cannot be accounted for by unequal distension with water. Besides the several Rubiaceous genera already mentioned, Fritz Muller informs me that two or three species of Psychotria and Rudgea eriantha, natives of St. Catharina, in Brazil, are heterostyled, as is Manettia bicolor. I may add that I formerly fertilised with their own pollen several flowers on a plant of this latter species in my hothouse, but they did not set a single fruit. From Wight and Arnott's description, there seems to be little doubt that Knoxia in India is heterostyled; and Asa Gray is convinced that this is the case with Diodia and Spermacoce in the United States. Lastly, from Mr. W.W. Bailey's description, it appears that the Mexican Bouvardia leiantha is heterostyled. (3/27. 'Bulletin of the Torrey Bot. Club' 1876 page 106.)] Altogether we now know of 17 heterostyled genera in the great family of the Rubiaceae; though more information is necessary with respect to some of them, more especially those mentioned in the last paragraph, before we can feel absolutely safe. In the 'Genera Plantarum,' by Bentham and Hooker, the Rubiaceae are divided into 25 tribes, containing 337 genera; and it deserves notice that the genera now known to be heterostyled are not grouped in one or two of these tribes, but are distributed in no less than eight of them. From this fact we may infer that most of the genera have acquired their heterostyled structure independently of one another; that is, they have not inherited this structure from some one or even two or three progenitors in common. It further deserves notice that in the homostyled genera, as I am informed by Professor Asa Gray, the stamens are either exserted or are included within the tube of the corolla, in a nearly constant manner; so that this character, which is not even of specific value in the heterostyled species, is often of generic value in other members of the family. _

Read next: Chapter 4. Heterostyled Trimorphic Plants

Read previous: Chapter 2. Hybrid Primulas

Table of content of Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species


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