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TEEA.TOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON PARNASSIA 

 PALUSTRIS L. 



By I. H. BuRKiLL, M.A. 



Owing to the great interest which attaches to Parnassia, I have 

 been led to examine during the past two summers a considerable 

 number of flowers obtained from the cliffs of the Yorkshire coast 

 near Scarborough. Here the soil is a heavy boulder clay, and the 

 situation in many parts somewhat sunless and exposed to cold winds 

 from the sea. I have further examined all the flowers which I could 

 obtain (under 200) on a peaty soil in Glen Clova and Glen Prosen, 

 Forfarshire, at elevations between 700 and 1300 ft. above sea-level. 

 In this short paper I propose to confine myself to statements 

 relating to the variability of the flowers of this plant. The following 

 table sets forth the number of flowers observed, with the variation 

 in the number of parts in the individual whorls : — 



Now, disregarding for the present the abnormalities of the last 

 six types, about which further remarks are necessary, we notice at 

 once that, whatever may be the number of organs in the outer 

 whorls of the flower, the gynoBcium has a tendency to produce one 

 unit less. We may tabulate this thus : — 



c Chorisis of one stamen. 



* Change in symmetry of flower between calyx and other whorls 



