i8 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[January, 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



ON IRREGULARITY IN FLOWERS. 



BY DAVID F. DAY. 



In your article on Euadenia eminens, published 

 in Dec. No. of the Gardeners' IVIonthly, I find 

 some observations respecting the regularity and 

 irregularity of flowers, in relation to their attitudes 

 (or positions), which to me are very interesting. 

 Never before had I seen in print any allusion to 

 the subject; but, nevertheless, I can say that it 

 was not to me a new one. In fact I had made it 

 the subject of a paper which I had read last win- 

 ter before the Society of Natural Sciences of this 

 city and of which a portion will appear in the next 

 Bulletin of the Society, now in the printer's hands. 

 I then took occasion to say that I believed that it 

 was the first lime that any portion of the scientific 

 world had had its attention called to the matter 

 which I was about to present to their attention, and 

 that, I believed my conclusions as well as the ob- 

 servations from which they were drawn were abso- 

 lutely original. This I said because I had given a 

 very considerable time to the inquiry, whether in 

 the discovery which I had to announce respecting 

 the correlation of the forms and position of flowers, 

 I had trod, unconsciously, in the footsteps of 

 others. 



The result of my research had been an utter 

 failure to find, in text book or treatise, any refer- 

 ence whatever to a fact which I regarded as of high 

 importance in the science of botany. Your article 

 confirms me in the opinion that I had in fact not 

 been anticipated. I would gladly send you a 

 copy of my paper, at once, but for the fact that in 

 a few we^ks, at farthest, my observations will find 

 their way to the public through what seems to me 

 their proper channel. I will then send you a copy. 



I cannot, without greatly exceeding the limits of 

 a letter, present you with all my conclusions. The 

 leading ones may, however, be summarized in two 

 propositions : 



I. A flower, completely regular, is, normally, 

 either erect or pendulous, in position. 



2. A flower, which is irregular, is, normally 

 always lateral in position. 



These propositions seem to be in harmony with 

 the suggestions of your article. In all the instances 

 in which they seem to be antagonized by the fact, 

 I found but little or no difficulty in reconciling the 

 seeming exception to the rule. 



What I have meant by these two propositions 

 would be made clearer by the citation of exam- 

 ples, which might be indefinitely extended. It will 

 suffice, however, to call attention to the Ranuncu- 

 lacese alone. The flowers of Aquilegia, for instance 

 (always regular), are in some species erect, and 

 in others pendulous; whilst Delphinium and Aconi- 

 tum (allied genera), bear their irregular blossoms 

 invariably in a lateral position. Of course I do not 

 ignore the fact that many flowers, with corollas 

 nearly or quite regular, open vertically, as some 

 species of Lilium and Amaryllis; but in these in- 

 stances it will, I think, be invariably found that 

 the stamens are declined. 



I have noted, also, this suggestive fact. Where 

 the flower is erect in its attitude, the stamens ex- 

 ceed the pistils, more or less in length, e. g., Aqui- 

 legia chrysantha. And when the flower is pendu- 

 lous, the pistils exceed the stamens in length, e. g., 

 Aquilegia Canadensis. In either case the stamens 

 being above the pistils. So far, also, as my obser- 

 vation has extended, where in the Monopetalae, 

 the blossoms are declined or pendent, the pistils 

 exceed the stamens in length. Of course, these pe- 

 culiarities of organization mean always self-ferti- 

 lization and nothing else. Cross-fertilization, in 

 such instances, can happen only by accident. 

 Every wind, sufficient to shake the ripened pollen 

 from the anther-cells, causes it to fall upon the 

 stigmas beneath. 



The very interesting cases, which you cite, re- 

 specting the behavior of some Gloxinias and 

 Gcsncrias, were entirely new to me ; but they tend 

 in a remarkable degree, to confirm the truth of 

 my two propositions. But can you tell me wheth- 

 er the change of form, in the flowers of Gloxinia 

 and Gcsneria, from regular to irregular, or rather 

 from irregular to regular, is accompanied by the 



