THB THHEE TOEMS OP LYTHBUM SAllCAEIA. 18& 



the illegitimate unions are than those of the other two forms, we 

 are led to consider the mid-styled form as eminently feminine in 

 its nature. And although it is impossible to consider as rudi- 

 mentary or aborted the two perfectly developed sets of stamens 

 of the mid-styled form which produce an abundance of perfectly 

 well-developed pollen, yet we can hardly avoid connecting, as 

 balanced, the higher efficiency of the female organ with the lesser 

 potency of the two mid-styled pollens. 



Friially, it is proved by the Tables that Lythrum salicaria 

 habitually produces or consists of three females difierent in 

 structure and widely different in function ; that it produces or 

 consists of three sets of males -\videly dift'erent in structure and 

 function ; and that two of the three sets of males are subdivided 

 into subgroups of half a dozen each, differing in a marked manner 

 in potency, so that regularly five kiads of pollen are elaborated 

 by this one species of LytJirum. 



Lythrwn Grcefferi. — I must now say a few words about some of 

 the other species of the genus. I have examined numerous dried 

 flowers of L. Grafferi, each from a separate jjlant, kindly sent 

 me from Kew. This species, like X. salicaria, is trimorphic, and 

 the three forms apparently occur in about equal numbers. In 

 the long-styled form the pistil projects about one-third of the 

 length of the calyx beyond its mouth, and is therefore shorter 

 than in L. salicaria ; the globose and hirsute stigma is larger than 

 that of the other two forms ; the longer stamens, which are 

 graduated in length, have their anthers standing just above and 

 just beneath the mouth of the calyx; the half-dozen shorter 

 stamens rise rather above the middle of the calyx. In the mid- 

 styled form the stigma projects just above the mouth of the 

 calyx, and stands almost on a level with the longer stamens of 

 the previous form ; its own longer stamens project well above the 

 mouth of the calyx and stand a little above the level of the stigma 

 of the long-styled form; the shorter stamens correspond in all 

 respects with the shorter ones in the pre^dous form. In the 

 short-styled form the stigma of the pistil is nearly on a level with 

 the anthers of the shorter stamens in the two preceding forms ; 

 and the longer stamens correspond with the longer stamens of 

 the mid-styled form, and the shorter stamens with the longer 

 stamens of the long-styled form. In short, there is a close general 

 correspondence in structure between this species and L. salicaria, 

 but w-ith some differences in the proportional lengths of the parts. 

 Nevertheless the fact of each of the three pistils having two sets 



