210 DU. M. T. MASTERS ON SOUTH-AFIIICAK HESTIACEJE. 



evidence, sometimes only upon the male flowers, which scarcely 

 ever afford sufficient means of discrimination. At other times, 

 considerable confusion has been created by authors describing as 

 distinct what proves to be only the male or the female, as the case 

 may be, of some previously described genus or species. 



The proper matching of the sexes is a matter of the more 

 difficulty from the comparative uniformity of characters presented 

 by the males; the female plants are much more distinct one 

 from the other. 



I cannot hope to have been always right in the pairing of male 

 and female plants, but I have at least had better opportunities for 

 doing this correctly than my predecessors. In doubtful cases the 

 means adopted for matching the sexes have been derived from the 

 comparison of the sheaths, and of the minute markings on the 

 culm ; these, especially the first mentioned, often supply good evi- 

 dence when that from other sources is not available. The form 

 of the bracts and glumes is of course very important ; but unluckily 

 the shape is sometimes diff^erent in the two sexes. The same re- 

 mark applies to the inflorescence. The home observer, moreover, 

 cannot always rely for certain on the accuracy of the original col- 

 lector, who may have marked such and such specimens as male and 

 female of the same species often as a matter of conjecture only, 

 while at other times two forms may have been sent home as be- 

 longing to the same species merely because they were found grow- 

 ing in proximity. Now, in this country at any rate, it compara- 

 tively rarely happens that the male and female plants of dioecious 

 plants are found near together ; it far more frequently happens 

 that we find the male plants abundantly at one place, the females 

 at another. It seems reasonable to suppose that the same thmg 

 may happen in other countries. In the case of the BestiacecB^ as 

 in otliers, the perpetuation of the plant is secured by the nu- 

 merous off^shoots given off* from the rhizome, and which to some 

 extent obviate the necessity for seeds, which latter seem fre- 

 quently not to be perfected, especially in those species with solitary 

 flowers and indehiscent fruits. 



In saying this I by no means wish to disparage the opinions 



opportunities of seeing the plants gro"VN" 



or 



as well as in a dried state ; the frequency with which the cor- 

 rectness of their opinion is shown in the dried specimens would 

 of itself prevent me from underrating their discrimination ; I 

 merely wish to state my opinion that, because a collector happens 

 to have sent home, under the same number, male and female 



