of the Ligulate Rays in Zinnia^ ^c. 157 



The parts of fructification of Zinnia vary exceedingly in 

 number, and on this account there is not perhaps a more in- 

 teresting genus in the whole class to which it belongs. While 

 engaged examining a capitulum of Zinnia verticillata in the 

 garden at Boyton in September last, my attention was arrested 

 by a floret of unusual size occupying the centre of the disk ; 

 and on removing and placing it under a common lens, I dis- 

 covered that the limb was divided into 10 lobes ; that it had 

 10 stamina, and 10 stigmata, all perfect. On laying open the 

 ovarium longitudinally, I found 5 embryos occupying the in- 

 terior of its cavity, and connected together in a cluster : they 

 were of unequal size, and their cotyledons were deformed and 

 unequal, and in some instances solitary. I extended my re- 

 searches to other capitula of the same species, and likewise 

 to those of Z. revoluta, multijiora, and paiicijlora, and found 

 the deviations from the typical form of corolla frequent in 

 all of them ; and that the limb varied with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 

 10 lobes ; that the stamina were 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 ; and the 

 stigmata, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, or 10. In such florets as had their limb 

 divided into 3 or 4 lobes only, the stamina were sometimes of the 

 usual number, 5 ; but in the others, the stamina were always 

 found corresponding in number with the divisions of the corolla. 

 The stigmata were found to be indefinite, and generally not in- 

 fluenced by the number of the other parts of the flower : for in 

 the usual form of corolla, — namely, with 5 lobes, — 3 were as fre- 

 quently observed as 2, and sometimes, although more rarely, 4, 5, 

 and 6 ; and in the 6-cleft corolla they frequently did not exceed 

 the ordinary number. In those flowers where the segments 

 of the corolla amounted to 8 or 10, the stigmata sometimes 

 equalled that number ; but in the 10-cleft corolla the stigmata 

 were often found not to exceed 5. With an increased number 

 of stigmata there is always a plurality of embryos : for example, 



with 



