HOWAED, HOWARD AND ABDUR RAHMAN 219 



buds and flowers. The flowering period varies from about a month in the 

 early kinds to six weeks in the late types. 



Pollination and fertilization. Some flowers begin to open early in the 

 morning about 6 a.m. but generally this process begins at 7-30 a.m. and is 

 completed an hour later. The flowers remain open for a short time only — 

 not more than three hours as a rule— and begin to close at 11 a.m., the process 

 being complete about noon. On the following morning, the withered calyx, 

 corolla, and stamens as Avell as the style are shed. In the young bud, the much 

 divided stigma is always above the unripe anthers and these relative positions 

 are maintained till just before the flowers open. At this point, the filaments 

 elongate rapidly and carry the very numerous bilobed anthers above and around 

 the stigma. In those buds which open early, the anthers burst when the flower 

 is half open, the stigma is then closely surrounded by a dense forest of bursting 

 anthers and self-pollination ensues. In the case cf buds, which open late, the 

 anthers begin to burst before the flower opens and sometimes pollination takes 

 place in the closed bud. These arrangements greatly favour sell-fertilization 

 and natural crossing is rare. No cases have been detected in the Botanical 

 Area at Pusa. The fact that the cultivators in the District of Hugli grow two 

 late varieties of the crop — one red-stemmed and the other green-stemmed — 

 side by side and go to some pains to keep them separate points to the absence 

 of extensive cross-pollin.ati( n. Bees visit the flower sparingly when fully open. 

 Setting takes place readily under nets and the seed so produced germinates 

 and develops normally. 



Improvement. The rarity of natural crossing and the fact that each plant 

 produces a large quantity of seed will render improvement by selection and 

 subsequent seed distribution easy matters. In view, however, of the small 

 importance of C. olitorius'wx India compared with C. capsularis it is not likely 

 that a large amount of work -^ill be done on this crop in the near future. 



3. Roselle. 



The details relating to the pollination of Hibiscus Sahdariffa L. have 

 already been described and figiired in detail. i Self-polUnaticn is the rule 

 and setting takes place normally under nets without any loss of vigour. Up 

 to 1911, no cases of natural crossing were detected at Pusa. Since that time, 

 a considerable amount of work has been dene on the inheritance cf characters 



^ Mem. of the JDept. of Agr. in Ivci'a (Botanical Series), vol. Ill, 1910, p. 314, and vol. IV, 

 1911, p. 31. 



