GOSSYPIUM 439 



tions of the buds show the loculi cut at every possible angle. The 

 young anthers are capitate, but finally become reniform and grooved 

 along the line of future dehiscence. At first, there is little elonga- 

 tion of the filament; but just prior to blossoming, it lengthens 

 rapidly and raises the anther several millimeters. 



Doak and Gore are in general agreement with respect to the 

 ontogeny of the pistil, which may consist of from three to five 

 carpels. The primordial points of the carpels arise from a dome- 

 shaped growing point surrounded by the staminal column, and 

 these ultimately become the stylar and stigmatic portions of the 

 pistil. At first, they grow slowly as compared with the other 

 parts; but the upward growth of the ovary results in the projection 

 of the young stylar structures into the staminal tube at an early 

 age. As the undiverged bases of the carpels increase in size, in- 

 ternal ridges are produced which develop into the true septa of 

 the ovary. These may be regarded as the free inturned margins of 

 the undiverged carpels which grow centripetally and upwardly 

 until the original cavity is divided into as many locules as there are 

 carpels. Continued growth of the reflexed margins of each carpel 

 forms the placentae from which the four to six ovules arise. In 

 describing the formation of the placentae. Gore states that "from 

 the two vertical edges of each septum the rounded placental ridges 

 appear. The edges of these placental masses grow outward at an 

 increasing angle toward the external carpel wall, finally becoming 

 a flattened mass of meristematic tissue." The style and stigmas 

 remain within the throat of the staminal cylinder until one or two 

 days before blossoming, when an increase in the rate of growth of 

 the style carries the stigmas beyond the staminal column and above 

 the anthers. 



The Vascular Anatomy of the Flower. — The vascular system 

 of the floral axis is similar to that of the stem forming a dictyostele 

 of from io to 30 bundles. At the involucral node, the pedicel is 

 triangular in transection, and the two main bundles of each bract 

 are diverged from the vascular ring at this point. They pass into 

 the bracts at a higher level, after being further branched so that 

 several bundles supply each bract. Slightly above this point, there 

 is an inward divergence of an adaxial series of vascular strands 

 which ultimately become the placental bundles. At a higher level, 

 there is a divergence of a series of abaxial bundles which supply the 

 outer wall of the boll, the number varying with the number of 



