The development of the flower and embryogeny of 
Martynia louisiana 
FLORA ANDERSON. 
(WITH PLATES 7 AND 8 AND TWENTY-FIVE TEXT FIGURES) 
INTRODUCTION 
The most common and widely distributed representative 
of the Martyniaceae in temperate North America is Martynia - 
lowisiana Mill. Although the literature on the family is chiefly 
taxonomic, the descriptions are meagre and confusing. All the 
species have, at some time, been placed in the genus Martynia. 
The ten or more known species comprise three genera, native 
to the warmer parts of the western hemisphere. 
Efforts were made to secure seeds and to grow plants of the 
different species for comparison, in order, if possible, to work 
out the taxonomy of the family. Seeds were obtained from 
seed-houses both in the United States and in England and also 
from the Bureau of Plant Industry, the University of Texas 
and the Mississippi Agricultural College. 
From seeds secured through the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
quite a number of plants of Martynia louisiana were grown— 
all the plants producing viable seeds—and one specimen of 
Martynia lutea Lindl. which, although maturing aire 
normal fruit from selfed flowers, produced no viable s 
Reciprocal crosses of Martynia lutea and Martynia plan 
and of Martynia lutea and Martynia fragrans Lindl. failed. 
From seeds furnished by seed-houses, the University of 
Texas and the Mississippi Agricultural College, quite a number 
of plants of Martynia louisiana and Martynia fragrans were 
grown in Montgomery County, Indiana, during the summers 
1915-1919. The two species mentioned above cross very readily, 
producing in all cases viable seeds. These plants, grown in the 
open in rich soil and under practically the same conditions, 
showed very few differences except in the color of the corolla, 
which is more or less a variable character. The similarity of 
the plants seems to indicate that they belong to the same species, 
but more cultures must be studied before this point can be def- 
initely determined. 
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