82 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



flowers. In shoots of types (i) and (ii) the buds remain extremely 

 short and slender, large examples not exceeding 8 mm. in total 

 length. There is no distinguishable pedicel, and the calyx is only 

 about 1J mm. long. When examined the bud is found to contain 

 four very small membranous bilobed petals, eight almost com- 

 pletely aborted stamens with minute anthers, and a brown 

 shrivelled style with four short appressed stigmas. The buds 

 never open, but turn brown, dry up, and fall off at a touch. The 

 whole structure is very inconspicuous, not usually exceeding half 

 the length of its subtending bract. 



During 1910-1911 only flowers of this kind were produced; 

 but in 1912 the shoots of the new type (iii) bore flowers of a 

 different appearance, and so did the offspring of the reciprocal 

 cross. These flowers are much larger, though still not nearly so 

 large as those of either parent ; they just surpass the bract in 

 length, some attaining 20 mm. The ovary is green and covered 

 with a glandular down, and the calyx is 3-4 mm. long. The 

 majority of the flowers do not open, but occasionally a flower 

 protrudes from papillose stigmas which spread out at the tip of 

 the bud, no other floral parts being exposed. Attempts to fertilise 

 such flowers were made, and a few seeds were produced by the 

 reciprocal hybrid when pollinated from E. hirsutum. 



The production of these flowers on shoots of type (iii) is a 

 marked decrease in the degree of sterility, a phenomenon which 

 has frequently been mentioned in the literature." Whether this 

 process will go further in later years cannot be guessed. 



The summer shoots die down in the autumn, leaving basal 

 rosettes, which are small and compact, with ovate, slightly fleshy, 

 glabrous, untoothed leaves, closely resembling the rosettes of 

 E. montanum : there is scarcely any suggestion of the production 

 of the elongated runners of E. hirsutum. \ 



The hybrids are, like the parents, susceptible to Puccinia 

 pulverulenta. 



The points in which Haussknecht's E. purpureum differs are 

 as follows: (a) The capsule is described as 3-4 cm. long on a 

 pedicel of 5-6 mm. ; no such development has ever been observed 

 on my plants, but it would be unwise to prophesy that it 

 never will occur, (b) The stem is said to be " stielrund oder 

 stumpfkantig durch den eine Strecke weit auslaufenden, eine 

 flache Furche verursachenden Mittelnerv der Blatter " ; no 

 furrow has been noticed in my artificial hybrid. On other 

 points the description of E. purpureum agrees with my plants, 

 especially with shoots of type (iii). 



E. montanum Linn. $ x E. parviflorum Schreb. $ . 

 The cross was made in 1911, and I had fourteen plants 

 flowering and forming good capsules in 1912 ; all were uniform, 



* Cf. R. Wettstein, " Ueber sprungweise Zunahme der Fertilitat bei 

 Bastarden." Wiesner Festschrift, p. 368, 1908. 



f Cf. E. adnatum f. stcnophyllag xE. hirsutum J . Compton, I.e. p. 161. 

 Also E. hirsutum^ x E. parviflorum £ (below). 



