55 



Salix. — In a swamp willow found on the 4th of April, 1880, 

 many of the catkins bore both fertile and infertile flowers. The 

 catkins towards the top of the shrub— which was about 7 ft. high 

 as well as those along the ends of the lower branches, were normally 

 starninate, those about the bases of the lower branches producing 

 pistillate flowers. These appeared first at the base of the starninate 

 catkin, varying from a few in this condition, to a fertile catkin bear- 

 ing a few starninate flowers at its apex. Most of the ovaries were 

 variously bent and distorted, and, being borne on what were origi- 

 nally the filament of stamens, were disproportionately long-pedicelled. 

 Each bract of the catkin produced two of these long-pedicelled 

 ovaries, instead of one as normally. The pedicels were sparingly 

 villous either at their base or throughout their entire length. 



Between the perfect stamen and the developed ovary, every 

 degree of transition was to be observed, the general course of the 

 transformation seeming to be as follows : 



The ordinary two-lobed stamen assumed an abruptly acute or 

 mucronate apex, lengthening into a style, the end of which first 

 becoming granulated, developed a capitate stigma. Some anthers' 

 remained almost unchanged otherwise, while this was taking place, 

 the result being an anther provided with a style and stigma. During, 

 or succeeding this change, the green connective of the dorsal surface 

 of the anther begins to widen, separating and encroaching on the 

 yellow lobes of the anther, and pushing them around to the ventral 

 surface, which thus becomes concave. The style also bends over in 

 this direction. The outer or convex side is now entirely green in 

 color, the inner or concave face bearing the two-lobed divisions of 

 the yellow anther. The outermost of these lobes on each side be- 

 come gradually obliterated, assuming the green color till the yellow 

 of the former anther persists only as two narrow lines separated by a 

 shallowing fissure in the floor of the convexity. This also soon 

 relinquishes its color and adopts the green. The convex sides now 

 grow around and together from the style downward, until finally we 

 have the complete shell of a pistil, silky hairy on its external surface, 

 and developed as from an ovate leaf. Within the base of this incipi- 

 ent ovary, through the ventral suture, I noticed in several cases that 

 a small gland had appeared, similar to the glands at the base of 

 the flowers. I was unable to determine what this repre- 

 sented. No ovaries were found further developed than this point. 

 The shrub was left for a week until some of the catkins should be- 

 come mature, but on my next visit the monoecious catkins had all 

 fallen away, the starninate ones alone remaining, and I was only 

 able to secure two or three imperfect specimens on which the above 

 remarks are based. 



Durmg the course of these transformations some curious abnor- 

 malities occurred ; for instance, several of the developing ovaries 

 were noticed spirally twisted upon themselves, and one had bent 

 into a right angle, two narrow approximate lobes of the anther still 

 persisting, extending like a brace across the angle of the genicti- 

 lated ovary, and in this novel position were discharging pollen. Per- 



haps I should have stated that the willow [Sa/ix discolor}) was grow- 



