100 — MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
second portion will be transcribed from my notes some un- 
published details not only in reference to this particular 
species but to other species of the family Prodoxide to 
which it belongs. 
FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS GENERALLY. 
The common belief, based upon the theological assump- 
tion that all things upon this terrestrial sphere are for 
man’s especial benefit, was, and perhaps yet is, that flowers 
were endowed with beauty and fragrance for our particular 
pleasure. Let us look somewhat more closely into this 
matter, and see what modern science has to say about it. 
Ever since Linnaeus used the sexual characteristics of 
flowers in classification, and Erasmus Darwin sang of the 
loves of the plants, the philosophy of fertilization in the 
plant kingdom has been fairly apprehended. It has long 
been recognized that plants are divisible into homomorphic 
or self-fertilisable, and heteromorphic or cross-fertilisable 
species. All diclinous plants, or those having separate 
male and female flowers, belong to the latter category, 
which is further classifiable according to the means by 
which cross-fertilization is effected. One class (termed 
anemophile) depend almost entirely on the wind, and in 
these, of which our pines and other conifers, our pop- 
lars, willows, grasses, etc., are examples, the pollen or male 
element obtains in enormous quantities, is easily detached, 
and is generally produced early in spring, when winds pre- 
vail, and frequently before the development of the leaves, 
which would tend to impede its dispersion. The flower is 
inconspicuous and the stigma or female organ generally 
branched or hairy, so as to increase the chance of catching 
the wind-borne pollen. Water is an agency in the fertili- 
zation of a few plants, of which the singular Vallisneria is 
a striking illustration; while a few are aided by birds and 
higher animals; but by far the greater number are ferti- 
lized, or more strictly speaking, pollinized, by insects. 
