90 IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



eel, and not between it and the bract as in this case; next are 

 the stamens, being three in number, ia all the flowers which 

 were examined, but vairyiug in position, some being on the 

 receptacle, and others on the ovary; to the extreme right is the 

 peculiar pistil which, instead of having a one-celled ovary, with 



Figure 5. l entire perfect flower; 2 cross-section of ovary. 



two parietal placentae as in normal willows, usually has a two- 

 celled ovary, one of the cells being nearly normal with two 

 placentae, while the other is larger and shows four placentae, 

 two of them consolidated, as shown in figure 2 which represents 

 a cross- section of the ovary. These figures represent a fair 

 average example of the perfect flowers, but considerable varia- 

 tion was observed. Some catkins consisted of staminate flow- 

 ers wholly, being normal with five stamens. Other catkins 

 had perfect flowers in part only, these being either apical, 

 basal, or scattered, while still others had all the flowers per- 

 fect. A few pistillate flowers were also found. 



The stamens in the perfect flowers vary much in length, 

 all being shorter however than those of the truly staminate 

 flowers, and they also show much variation in the development 

 of the anthers, some being evidently abortive. 



The perfect flowers produce seed, but whether this is capable 

 of germination was not demonstrated. 



