GORRESP ONDENCE. 



553 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



"QUEER FLOWEES." 

 Messrs. Editors : 



IN reading the interesting article by 

 Grant Allen on " Queer Flowers," in the 

 December number of this " Monthly," I ob- 

 serve some statements concerning the fig 

 which observation here in California, where 

 the tree is very common and grows luxui'i- 

 antly, does not confirm. In the first place, 

 the caprijico does not, so far as I am aware, 

 grow here at all. We realize, therefore, a 

 condition the same as though it had " be- 

 come extinct " ; and yet the supply of figs — 

 " best Eleme in layers " — has not " ceased 

 entirely." On the contrary, figs here in the 

 city are a drug, and are literally trodden 

 under foot of men on the sidewalks over- 

 hung by the trees ; and in the coimtry they 

 lie rotting on the ground in thousands upon 

 thousands for lack of the labor and care 

 necessary for their marketing or preserva- 

 tion. This looks as though the " true figs " 

 ■were not " dependent upon it (the caprijico) 

 for pollen," as the writer states ; and I am in- 

 clined to think that the " extraordinary and 

 complicated cross - relationship " to which, 

 according to Mr. Allen, the flowers of the 

 fig owe their fertilization, is a myth, and, 

 on the strength of the argument a posteri- 

 ori alone, should be relegated to books for 

 the nursery. 



But, in addition to this, let us look at 

 the (literally) internal evidence afforded by 

 the fig itself against this mythical cross- 

 relationship. The flowers of the fig, grow- 

 ing as stated on the inside of the hollow 

 stalk or receptacle, which forms when ripe 

 the main bulk of what is popularly known 

 as a fig, are of two kinds, viz., male and fe- 

 male ; that is to say, the male, or pollen- 

 bearing organs (stamens), and the female, 

 or seed-bearing organs (pistils), are borne 

 on separate stalks, just as in the melon and 

 cucumber. But while in the last-named 

 plants the different flowers are placed at 

 some distance apart on the vine, here they 

 are crowded together in the hollow recep- 

 tacle in close contact and in almost every 

 conceivable relative position, above, below, 

 and on all sides ; and the hollow receptacle 

 is all but completely closed by an irregular 

 fringe of metamorphosed bracts which sur- 

 round the eye (" hole," by courtesy) in the 

 distal end. They (the flowers) are, there- 

 fore, in the best possible condition for self- 

 fertilization, without any external aid from 

 insects. The fig, in fact, presents in its 

 synconium an analogy to the perfect Cleis- 

 togamous flowers found scattered through 

 several orders and genera, which, although 



containing both stamens and pistils, do not 

 open out or bloom, yet nevertheless, pro- 

 ducing abundance of seeds, prove them- 

 selves to be self-fertile. 



Note here, however, that I do not assert 

 that the flowers of the fig are generally or 

 in any great number fertile ; indeed, I have 

 reasons to doubt this being so, for I have 

 yet to see the first seedling fig-tree. And 

 yet, from the great number of seeds (fruits ?) 

 falling on the ground and being covered up 

 every season, it would seem almost certain 

 that, if they were generally fertile, at least 

 a few would germinate ; and this brings me 

 to another statement of our talented writer, 

 which will bear examination before accept- 

 ance, viz. : " . . . «s the figs ivonH prop- 

 erly swell withoxd fertilization^ . . . and for 

 this reason the Italian peasants hang on the 

 tree small branches of the caprifico ... at 

 the moment when the eye of the fig opens, 

 and so shows that they {the flowers) are ready 

 to be fertilized. The wasps . . . enter the 

 figs at once and there set the little hard 

 seeds, on ivhose fertilization the pulpy part 

 of the fig begins to swell." The italics arc 

 mine. 



Is it certain that the swelling or ripen- 

 ing of the fig is at all dependent on the fer- 

 tilization of its contained flowers or any of 

 them ? The pineapple presents a case in 

 point which negatives the proposition, at 

 least as a general one. Here the flowers 

 are on the outside of a simple axis, in form 

 of a spike. The axis continues growing 

 beyond the spike of flowers, and may be 

 cut off and rooted to form a new plant ; in 

 fact, this is the common and, I believe, the 

 only mode of its propagation. Now, the 

 pineapple as a fruit is formed by the axis, 

 together with the surrounding and constitu- 

 ent flowers, bracts, etc., swelling and blend- 

 ing together in ripening into a fleshy, juicy 

 mass, but the flowers are sterile and seedless. 

 The plantain and banana likewise both 

 ripen their fruits without the fertilization 

 of their seeds. Although I am not in pos- 

 session of conclusive evidence on this point, 

 I am disposed to think, from some facts al- 

 ready stated, that the fig (through long con- 

 tinued propagation by layers or cuttings ?) 

 is approaching the condition of a seedless 

 plant. Be this as it may, it has, I think, 

 been shown that the "fig- wasp" may be 

 stricken out of the account as surplusage, 

 together with the pollen of the caprifico, 

 with the result of no fewer figs and a nearer 

 approach to the true story of the Ficus 

 carica. GteORGE Pyburn. 



Saceamento, CALIFOB^^A, December, 1884. 



