128 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [august 



It is clear that in the higher flowering plants maleness and 

 femaleness are two series of morphological steps beginning in the 

 development of stamens and pistils from cells of the closest somatic 

 lineage. Any diploid or haploid nuclear organization can become 

 either male or female according to whether its cell lineage leads 

 through stamens or pistils. In this sense maleness and female- 

 ness are acquired; they are conditions imposed upon cell organi- 

 zation rather than existing as separate inherent conditions; they 

 begin in somatic differentiation that is fundamentally on the 

 same basis as differentiation of stems, leaves, and sterile floral 

 organs. Potentially maleness and femaleness (either morphologi- 

 cal or physiological) reside in every cell of the sporophyte. The 

 reduction divisions preceding the gametophytic divisions give the 

 same range of nuclear organization to both kinds of spores. 



It is such conditions, emphasized by the wide occurrence of 

 hermaphrodites, that compel us to state the problems of sex 

 determination in such questions as the following: 



1. What physiological and chemical processes operate when sex 

 differentiation appears and is initiated morphologically among 

 organs which develop side by side from cells of the same somatic 

 lineage ? 



2. Should we not regard dioecism as the suppression of male- 

 ness or femaleness in an individual as a whole (either in sporophytic 

 or in gametophytic generations, or in both) ? 



We may note that intersexuality completely fills the gap 

 between hermaphroditism and dioecism. In this respect the 

 conditions in plants fully agree and supplement those reported 

 in animals. Viewing all the evidence, we may at the present time 

 make the following conclusions, which are in general harmony 

 with the facts and the conclusions of Goldschmidt, Banta, 

 Riddle, and Lillie: (i) Fundamentally maleness and female- 

 ness reside in all somatic cells of all sporophytic individuals. 

 (2) Maleness and femaleness are quantitative differentiations; 

 there are all grades of intersexes. Maleness and femaleness are 

 relative; there are all grades of compatibilities. (3) Sex deter- 

 mination, at least in hermaphrodites, is fundamentally a phenom- 

 enon of somatic differentiation that is ultimately associated with 



