WEATHERWAX: SPIKELETS OF ZEA Mays 493 
The fate of the parts of the lower flower of the female spikelet 
is similar to that of the homologous aborted parts of the other 
flowers. TEXT FIG. 33 shows a section of the flower at the time 
1) 
a 
4 wy 
T i ere as. < 
P RRS : 
\ 
WA 
RS 
NSS 
Shae 
ae 
30 
FIGs. 30 and 31. Disorganization of the stamen in the female flower, X 200. 
T, tapetal region; Ps pollen mother cells; O, ovary. 
of its highest development, the pistil having already begun to 
decline. So far as has been determined, no spore mother cells 
are formed in either the stamens or the pistil. It seems that the | 
decline of all the suppressed organs of the female spikelet begins 
simultaneously, or nearly so, and the difference in age between 
those of the upper and those of the lower flower would account for 
the difference in the degree of development finally reached. 
These organs of the aborted flower are finally reduced to the con- 
_ dition of the other aborted pistils and stamens, and at anthesis 
the lodicules are the only prominent parts of the flower. As has 
already been noted (8, p. 135), the pistil of this flower is known to 
function with more or less regularity in some varieties. : 
The cause of this suppression of some organs in all spikelets, 
resulting, as it does, in monoecism, is unknown. But the fact 
that variations to the perfect-flowered condition sometimes occur 
* 
