26 Dansk Botanisk Arkiv, Bd. 2. Nr. 6. 



of the anthers is about 5 — 6 mm (the appendages excepted). The 

 whole male flower is sheltered by the sheath of the uppermost 

 leaf, and it seems as if it never extends itself out of the sheath, 

 but opens while surrounded by the sheath. At least none of the 

 flowers examined by me show any elongation of the filament, 

 nor does Mr. Black mention anything of that kind. 



The female flower was first described by Ascherson in 

 1876 1 from a flower received from F. v. Müller. I quote the 

 description, as the journal in which it was 

 published is difficult to get: 



"Baron F. v. Müller sandte freundlichst ein 

 Exemplar, von Mrs. Beal in Loutitt Bay west- 

 lich von Melbourne gesammelt, an dem er einen 

 Fig. 13. Cym. ant- weiblichen Blütenstand bemerkt hatte. Unser 

 bSbJT Tran? berühmter Landsmann hatte bereits gesehen, 

 verse section of the dass sie, dem Charakter von Cymodocea ent- 



"Ho/^afsiLet " 1 s P rechend > aus zwei neben einander stehenden 

 Carpellen bestehe, deren Griffellamelle sich, wie 

 an diesem Exemplar zu erkennen, nahe über der Basis in zwei 

 Aeste theilt. Die Blüthe bildet, wie bei C. ciliata und den Arten 

 der Section Phycagrostis, den terminalen Abschluss eines Laub- 

 zweiges, dessen äussere (an dem vorliegenden Exemplar beschä- 

 digte) Blätter von den gewöhnlichen Laubblättern nicht ab- 

 zuweichen scheinen". 



This description is correct in the main points, but not ex- 

 haustive. The next time we hear about the female reproductive 

 organs, a very interesting discovery was made. At the request 

 of F. v. Müller and Ascherson, Mr. I. G. 0. Tepper studied the 

 plant at Ardrossan (York Peninsula, South Australia) and pub- 

 lished some papers on it in the Royal Soc. of South Australia 2 . 



According to Black (1913), it seems as if Tepper had not 

 found the young female flower, but only what he considered to 

 be the female propagative organ. From his observations he draws 

 the conclusion "that the plant does not at all develop a fruit 

 proper, nor does the seed ever become dissociated from its plant, 

 but that the fertilized ovum at once germinates and develops 



1 In Sitzber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin (1876) 11. 



2 I. G. O. Tepper: Some Observations on the Propagation o Cymodocea 

 antarctica Endl. — Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia, IV (1881) 1—4 

 and 47—49, pi. 1 and 5; and ibid. V, 37. — I have not access to the 

 papers themselves, and am restricted to the abstracts given by P. 

 Ascherson (1882) and I. M. Black (I.e., 1913). 



