BY TIIOS. STEEL. 331 



were the blossoms wliicli .ijave rise to the fruits noticed on the 

 male trees. The abnormal blossoms, though by no means easy to 

 find amongst the multitude of others, are readily identified when 

 seen, because of tlie absence of visible anthers. The stamens in 

 these blossoms are not like those in the female flowers, but are 

 about one-lialf the normal length, reaching to about the top of 

 the ovary, and, as has been mentioned, are non-dehiscent (Pl.ix., 

 fig. 7). The ovary in the abnormal blossoms is, in size and 

 shape, quite different from tliat in the ordinary male blossoms, 

 but precisely like that in the female. On no occasion have we 

 found a staminiferous blossom on a female tree, although we have 

 searched carefully. 



The abnormal or fruit-setting blossoms on the male trees are 

 erratically developed, sometimes only one in a cluster, at other 

 times two, three, four, or even a full clustex', but they are never 

 abundant. Intermediate blossoms are met with occasionally. 

 One example, which I have carefully preserved and which was on 

 a male tree, contained two normal stamens, two abortive, and one 

 intermediate (Pl.ix., fig.6); while the ovary had the small, slender 

 shape normal in male blossoms. 



We thus see that, while the trees have differentiated into the 

 dioecious state, the male trees have occasional female flowers which 

 retain abortive stamens, and, more rarely, single blossoms which 

 may be considered intermediate in having some normal and some 

 abortive stamens; the female trees appear never to have any but 

 normal female blossoms. 



The normal number of petals in each blossom is five. Varia- 

 tions are exceedingly rare, and I have noticed only two examples, 

 one of which chanced to be a male, and the other a female 

 blossom. The former possessed only four petals and stamens, 

 while the latter had six petals and a like number of the small, 

 scale-like, undeveloped stamens. 



It would be interesting to know whether the seeds derived 

 from male trees show any predisposition to produce male or 

 female plants, and with this object in view, in 1906, I gave Mr. 

 Maiden a quantity of seed which I had watched ripen on the male 

 tree. This grew freely, but unfortunately through some mishap 



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