AUTOGAMY IN CLEISTOGAMIC FLOWERS. 391 



temperature be not too low. The stigmatic tissue becomes receptive; the anthers 

 attain to maturity, dehisce and liberate their pollen notwithstanding that no ray of 

 sunshine penetrates the clouds and that rain falls continuously. In such circum- 

 stances the mouth of the flower is not opened; autogamy takes place in the closed 

 flower, and all the adjustments evolved with the object of ensuring cross-fertilization 

 are ineffectual. This is the case, for instance, in the following: — Alsine rubra, 

 Anagallis phoenicea, Arahis caerulea, Azalea procuTnbens, Calandrinia covipressa, 

 Centunculus niinimus, Drosera longifolia, Gagea lutea, Gentiana campestris, G. 

 glacialis, G. prostrata, Hypecoum penduluvi, Hypericum humifusuvi, Lepidiwm 

 sativum, Montia fontana, Oxalis corniculata, 0. stricta, Polycarpon tetraphyllum, 

 Portulaca oleracea, Sagina saxatilis, Silene noctiflora, Sisyrinchium anceps, Sper- 

 gula arvensis, Stellera Passerina, Veronica alpina, V. hellidioides and V. Chamce- 

 drys — plants which grow in widely different habitats, but which all have the com- 

 mon property that their flowers open for but a short period, if at all. In plants 

 with long-lived flowers it is of not uncommon occurrence for autogamy to be 

 accomplished during a spell of wet weather, and for the petals to open subsequently 

 all the same, and so afford the possibility of the remains of the pollen being carried 

 away by insects. This phenomenon has often been observed, for example, in 

 Rhododendron hirsutum, the Bog-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata), and the Greater 

 Dodder (Cuscuta Europcea). 



There is also the case of such plants as Alisma natans, lllecebrum verticillatum, 

 Limosella aquatica, Peplis Portula and Subularia aquatica, which live in pools or 

 on the banks of ponds where the level of the water is variable. If the buds of 

 these plants are submerged at the time when they are about to open, they do not 

 unfold, and autogamy takes place in the closed flowers under water. It must be 

 observed that the water does not penetrate into the air-filled interior of the flowers, 

 so that we have here the curious phenomenon that the transference of pollen to the 

 stigma, though accomplished under water, is yet a case of pollination in the medium 

 of the air. 



An allied phenomenon is exhibited by some of the Knotweeds (Polygonum, 

 Hydropiper, P. minus, and P. mite). Isolated plants of any of these species, in 

 which all the flowering branches are exposed to the sunshine, and are both visible 

 and accessible to insects, unfold all their flowers; but, if hundreds of one species are 

 crowded close together, only a limited number of the flowers open their perianths. 

 The flowers growing on the upright branches alone of such crowded plants unclose, 

 and receive insects' visits, whilst those which grow on the under, procumbent 

 branches, and are consequently concealed and not easily reached by insects, remain 

 shut. Nevertheless autogamy is effected with obvious success in these also. 



Plants of the kind just alluded to form a transition to those which normally 

 produce two kinds of flowers, viz.: some which open and are adapted to cross- 

 fertilization through insect-agency, and some which remain closed and exhibit 

 autogamy with great regularity. The latter have received the name of cleistogamie 

 (»cXeio-Tos^that can be closed, ydfxos, marriage) flowers, and amongst them may be dis- 



