116 COLLINS AND KEMPTON: A NEW HYBRID 



Owing to the fact that the plant which supphed pollen for the 

 hybrid was grown in the greenhouse where all teosinte plants 

 behave abnormally, it was impossible to determine whether this 

 particular plant would have possessed many or few of these maize- 

 like characters had it grown normally in the open. As it de- 

 veloped in the greenhouse it was much reduced in stature, being 

 only about 2 feet high. A number of pistillate flowers were pro- 

 duced in the terminal inflorescence, the branches of which were 

 much reduced. But there was no tendency to form either a 

 cob or a central spike in the terminal inflorescence. 



The plant of Tripsacum used as female parent of the hybrid 

 was an offshoot from a plant grown at Lanham, Maryland. In 

 February, 1913, a number of offshoots were removed from the 

 plant at Lanham and planted in the greenhouse at Washington. 

 Probably as a result of being grown in the greenhouse the stami- 

 nate portion of the first inflorescences that appeared were aborted. 

 The female flowers of one of these aborted inflorescences were 

 pollinated by Euchlaena, producing the hybrid under discussion. 

 As soon as pollinated the inflorescence was enclosed in a paper 

 bag. This was an unnecessary precaution, for the stigmas were 

 dry before any Tripsacum pollen was produced and there were 

 no other flowering plants of Tripsacum in the greenhouse at that 

 time. As a result of this pollination four seeds were secured. 



The four hybrid seeds were planted on April 8, 1913, but only 

 one germinated. As soon as the seedling appeared above the 

 ground the soil was removed so as to expose the seed, allowing 

 us to make sure that the plant was growing from the Tripsacum 

 seed and not from the seed of some other grass accidentally oc- 

 curring in the soil. 



All possibility that the plant was other than a true hybrid 

 was removed at an early date. As soon as the nature of the seed- 

 ling could be determined it was found to resemble the male 

 parent Euchlaena in all discernible characters. This resem- 

 blance continued throughout the life of the plant. 



The abnormal characters of the particular plants used as par- 

 ents, induced by the greenhouse conditions, made impossible any 

 accurate comparisons of the hybrid with its individual parents, 



