104. SCHAFFNER: SEXUAL STATE IN SAGITTARIA LATIFOLIA 
also the carpel vestiges are more perfectly developed in the lowest 
staminate flowers. Commonly the transition is abrupt from 
carpellate whorl to staminate whorl. 
Since, as intimated above, in passing from the female to the 
male state the inflorescence bud must pass through a neutral 
condition, it becomes evident that this may occasionally take 
place in a node rather than in the internodal tissue. It is then 
possible for one side of the axis to pass into the one sexual con- 
dition and the other side into the opposite sexual condition. 
Such cases were found to be quite common, the transition whorl 
containing one carpellate flower and two staminate flowers or 
two staminate and one carpellate. It is also evident that a 
flower incept may be exacily on the neutral tissue and then con- 
tinue for a while in the neutral state, in which case the original, 
bisporangiate flower, from which type Sagittaria evolved, should 
again be produced. A search for this condition showed the 
reasoning to be correct: such bisporangiate flowers of all degrees 
of staminateness and carpellateness being not at all difficult to 
find. In fact they are quite frequently developed. One flower 
was found with a nearly equal number of good stamens and 
normal carpels. But usually there are only a few normal 
carpels at the tip of the flower, which soon become green, or a 
few normal stamens at the base together with the vestiges. 
There are also flowers which have nearly perfect carpels but which 
are plainly staminate in general nature and some which are 
plainly carpellate but with a few imperfect stamens. From 
these conditions one can find all gradations to the ordinary type 
of staminate and carpellate flowers with the usual types of 
vestiges for each. 
When the basal whorl develops one or more branches, they 
often change immediately, or after the production of one or two 
carpellate flowers, to the staminate condition while the main 
axis may continue to be carpellate for some distance up. Bi- 
sporangiate flowers are apt to be produced in the lower part of 
such branches; for there is apparently a slight disturbance of 
the normal progression of functional states as the branch de- 
velops. One such branch was found which had its terminal bud 
slightly injured through some unknown cause and which showed 
a complete reversal of the normal sexual development. The 
lowest whorl of this branch was staminate and the next node 
