98 MR. R. P. GREGORY ON THE 
in the fact that, in their young flowers, the style was not visible from above, 
whereas it was visible in all the open flowers of the hermaphrodite plant. 
Finally, mention must be made of the variation which exists between 
flowers of the same individual male plant, quite independently of any 
differences which may be referred to the age of the flower. 16 is of course a 
common occurrence that different flowers of the same plant should show slight 
differences. Not infrequently these differences are more pronounced : thus, 
the plant shown in figs. 29-31 was classed т 1905, according to the flowers 
showing the longest style, as type B; in 1906, in the 7 flowers examined, 
the style scarcely exceeded that of type C. In 1907, this plant gave 
16 flowers in which the style was visible from above; from 12 of these 
16 flowers the anthers had already dropped, and the style was in most cases 
clearly visible ; in the other four flowers the anthers still remained, and the 
fact that, in them, the style was only visible with difficulty, serves to illustrate 
the elongation of the style which takes place with age. But in 8 other 
flowers, the style could not be seen at all from above. Among the 24 flowers 
length of the style 
the measures of the у , 
ength of flower over all 
,in an old flower in 
T 
i 
2 
А 1 
varied from 5 
which the style was easily visible, to in a flower of similar age in which 
IP 
the style was not visible. The former is of type B, approaching type А; 
the latter scarcely more than type D. 
A quite extreme case of the same kind is illustrated in figs. 32-37, which 
show the different types of flower encountered on the same plant on 
May 27, 1907. The range of variation is so remarkable that it is worth 
considering in detail. In 1905, this plant was classed as a short-styled 
male; in 1906, twelve flowers were taken from one inflorescence of the 
same plant; of these, ten were of the type E, two of the type D, while 
flowers taken from another spike showed similar characters. In 1907, the 
flowers borne on nine inflorescences of this plant were examined and 
measured. These inflorescences were numbered respectively A I-IV, BI&II. 
and C I-IIT. The four heads A I-IV bore flowers corresponding exactly 
with the description of 1906 ; some, or all, of the flowers borne on each of 
the remaining heads were long-styled, while in one case (B П) every type 
of flower from A to Е was represented. 
On the inflorescence В I, the flowers ranged between types B-D; the 
longest style measured 2 mm.,* the shortest was only half that length. 
On the inflorescence В П, the range was even greater, viz. from A-E, the 
majority being B ; the longest style recorded was 2:6 mm. in length, the 
shortest (fig. 37) only 0*4 mm. 
* These measurements apply to the mature state; flowers in which the stamens had 
withered, or actually fallen, being chosen wherever available. 
