EXPEIUMENT STATION iJEPOK'T. 497 



for then it may be found tliat ilic grocn t'onii is rcstorcMl. A further 

 study of the species may reveal before-undetected characteristics tliat 

 may assist in a rational study of the hylu'ids. 



Datnra Meteloldes DC. 



At the same time that the above experiments were in progress 

 hybridizing was under way with D. Stramonium and D. meteloldes. 

 This latter is one of the daturas native of New Mexico that is culti- 

 vated as an ornamental plant, the ilowers being six inches or more 

 long, tubular and white or pale violet, while the foliage has a deli- 

 cately soft velvety appearance due to a fine coating of hairs. The 

 stems and leaf stalks are a pale purple, and the white flowers show 

 a tinge of the same color. The species represents a division of the 

 genus that is distinct from the one to which D. Tatuln and D. Stra- 

 in on mm belong. 



Here it was found that the pollen is shed some time before the 

 tube of the corolla develops into a bell, and it was necessary to re- 

 move the stamens several days before the time of blooming. In some 

 instances success attended the application of the pollen of D. mete- 

 loides to the stigma of D. Stramonium, but ail attempts to fertilize 

 D. meteloldes with the other two failed. The style of D. meteloldes 

 is fully twice the length of that of D. Stramonium, and this may ac- 

 count for the failure of pollen of the latter when applied to the stigma 

 of D. meteloides. 



Two pods fairly well supplied with seeds resulted from the D. 

 meteloides upon D. Stramonium, and several seedlings were grown 

 to fruitage in the open field during the past season. One set of these 

 plants, all without mucli variation, have the green color of the D. 

 Stramonium, while the seedlings from the other pod all have a uni- 

 form purple color that is even more intense than the parent D. mete- 

 loides. These hybrids as a wliole were of the same genci-al type as 

 those between D. Tatula and D. Stramonium growing nearby. All 

 seeds from D. Tatula fertilized with D. meteloldes failed to germinate. 



In a portion of Plot II., Series V., more crossing of D. meteloides 

 upon Stramonium and D. Tatula was accomplished, and many at- 

 tempts were made to work D. Stramonium and D. Tatula upon D. 

 meteloides, but without success. One flower of Datura fastuosa L. (1). 

 cornucopia) pollenized with 1). meteloides produced a seed-l)eariiig 

 capsule. 



82 



