[Reprinted from Torreya, Vol. 21, No. 4, July-August, 1921.] 





STERILITY AND FERTILITY IN SPECIES OF 

 HEMEROCALLIS 



For a number of years problems of fertility and sterility in 

 numerous species of plants that freely and naturally propagate 

 by vegetative means have been under investigation by the writer. 

 In these studies several species of Hemerocallis have received 

 considerable attention, and a brief preliminary report of the re- 

 sults obtained with them has been given (Journal N. Y. Bot. 

 Garden 20: 104-105, May, 1919). Certain aspects of the re- 

 search await the blooming of seedlings that are now being 

 grown and the testing of wild plants of several species which 

 it is hoped can be obtained from their native home in the orient. 

 But the results already obtained, and in part published, sup- 

 plement and to some degree extend the observations recorded 

 in a recent number, of the Torreya (21 : 12-13, J an - anQl Feb. + 

 1921) and for this reason may be briefly summarized for the 

 readers of this journal. 



It is to be noted that the double-flowered form of Hemero- 

 callis fulva reported in Torreya (18: 242) and referred to later 

 (Torreya 21 : 13) is undoubtedly an old and well known sort. 

 A double-flowered variety of this species is reported by Thun- 

 berg in his Flora Japonica published in 1784 and there identi- 

 fied as the double-flowered plant which Kaempfer (Amoen. 

 Exot. 1 71 2) thought was an Iris. At the present time two 

 double-flowered varieties are recognized (Bailey, Cyclopaedia of 

 Horticulture) as belonging to H. fulva. One of these, var. 

 Kwanso, is illustrated in color in Gartenflora in 1866 (plate 

 500) and there said to have been introduced into Europe by von 

 Siebold. This is evidently the double-flowered form most 

 widely found in cultivation in Europe and America. The other 

 variety (flora plena) is illustrated in color in Flora des Serres 



57 



