

77 



noticed perhaps a dozen individuals exhibiting various phases of 

 abnormal growth. The tendency towards transformation of stamens 

 into pistils, and vice versa, has been frequent, and I have also no- 

 ticed the surprising phenomenon of anthers developed within the 

 closed ovary ! Briefly stated, the course of this development so far 

 as I was able to trace it, by an examination of various ovaries in dif- 

 ferent sta^^es, borne on the same catkin, was as follows; On the upper 

 portion of the inner walls of the ovary, just above the ovules, a pair of 

 slender parallel folds appear in the tissue on either side, gradually in- 

 creasing in size until one of them has developed into a perfect polinifer- 

 ous anther-lobe. Up to this point the ovary remains otherwise un- 

 changed (except in the obsolescence of the silky hairs of its outer sur- 

 face) and a lateral section shows the ovules occupying the lower part,on 

 basal, or partially parietal placentae — some of them being actually con- 

 tiguous with the yellow, often red- tinged, anther-lobes above. At 

 about this stage the ovary begins to separate between the styles, and an 

 orifice is formed which reveals the anthers within. The latter, as the 

 separating process continues, are brought out on the diverging por- 

 tions of the ovary, which, undergoing gradual atrophy, finally becomes 

 a hyaline filament bearing two perfect anthers at its apex. In some 

 cases, the anthers were separated by a partial division of the filament 

 ' — a direct effort towards the normal diandrous state- 

 In many instances the affected parts were found to be shrivelled 

 after having undergone a partial change, and developing ovaries were 

 found still containing a remnant of the anther. 



In another case the ovaries were borne on slender drooping ped- 

 icels, thus showing some relationship to stamens; and, though these 

 had not split, most of the catkins bearing them were partially 

 divided through the axis. In this specimen, at the expense of the 

 ovules, their usual downy coverings had been greatly developed, 

 often extruding as a dense cottony mass through a rupture in the 

 walls of the receptacle. 



Still another abnormal condition of the floral organs was noticed 

 in the complete gradation, in several shrubs, between a single ovary 

 and two diverging ones borne on the same pedicel. 



The affected species were mostly Salix discolor^ Muhl., with one 

 or two plants pf S. cordata^ Muhl. 



Riverdale, New York. E. P. Bicknell. 



71. Notes on a Few of our Carices. — It seems to me that Prof, 



Gray was not at all out of the way, When, in his Gramineae and Cy- 

 peraceae, he classed Carex varia^ Muhl., as a variety of C. Penmyl- 

 vanica. Lam. Unlike as these two plants appear to be when answering 

 to their respective descriptions, yet, when compared with their several 

 variable forms, their differential points wholly fail and separation be- 

 comes guess-work. Among my specimens of C Fennsylvanica there 

 are several with spikelets quite as distinct as are those of the typical 

 C. varia^ while others have light-brown scales andobovoid perigynia. 

 On the other hand, C, varia has its spikelets sometimes approximate, 

 its perigynia roundish, and its leaves very long and slender. It is 

 hoped that competent observers will examine tliese variant forms and 

 record their conchisions. 



