THE NUMBER OF STAMENS AND CARPELS. 223 
22°75 have four, and 20°53 per cent. have five stamens. There 
is no other number which is represented by so high a percentage 
as five. Stellaria, then, has a very strong tendency to be 
triandrous, and but very rarely (here ‘12 per cent.) exhibits the 
ten stamens characteristic of the Caryophyllacew. In Table I., 
out of the possible total of 56,840 stamens, 21,154 (37-22 per 
cent.) are present, and 817 (1-44 per cent.) are represented as 
staminodes; therefore 61°34 per cent. of the possible number 
of stamens are aborted *. 
Effect of Age of the Plant.—The younger the plant is, the 
more stamens do the flowers carry ; thus in experiments E and F, 
which were not subject to changes of temperature, the following 
results were obtained :— 
TABLE II. 
Effect of Age of Plant on Number of Stamens aborted in the 
Flowers of Stellaria media. 
Period. Percentage | Percentage: 
No. of |j stamens | Na OÍ | of stamens | 
flowers. | aborted. | owers. | aborted. | 
April 13th to May Ist... 80 545 40 5175 | 
May 2nd to 17th ......... 63 62:22 27 60:0 | 
May 18th to June Ist ... 70 63:43 19 69:47 | 
June 2nd to 23rd ......... 38 64:74 15 67°33 | 
Nor is this result alone; J and K gave similar results; and A, 
B, O, and D all show a reduction in number of stamens towards 
the end of the life of the plant, but with certain irregularities. 
Table IV., which gives the changes in A, B, C, and D from 
week to week, shows that towards the end of the life of the 
plant the average number of stamens draws nearer to three to a 
* I cannot agree with Müller when he says that the honey-glands remain, 
while the stamens to which they belong abort ; for from my observations I find 
the nectaries disappearing with the stamens. Cf. * Fertilization of Flowers 
(London, 1883 ), p. 136. 
