198 ON THE FLOWERS OF EUPHORBIA AMYGDALOIDES. 
touch makes the filament break in two at the joint, when one half falls 
bodily off, probably on to the stigmas of the female, or if not the pollen 
is sure to fall on them when 
the filament breaks at the 
articulation. It will thus 
be seen this flower plays 
no unimportant part.* 
When the ordinary in- 
volucres open, and after 
the stigmas have been fer- 
tilized the ovary is pen- 
dulous, and is generally 
what purpose I do not 
know. It eventually be- 
WG 5 os... XT comes again erect, and 
though, in its earlier states, it is termed pendulous, the stem that sup- 
ports the ovary is always stubborn or inflexible. Soon after this, the 
male flowers that surround the female, put up their anthers sparingly, 
which are sometimes ruptured; but from my observations of the 
pollen, I believe it is abortive, for it is generally ina semi-liquid state, 
and seldom or never in granules. And, although I have seen the anthers 
ruptured, I have never seen the pollen shed, but it appears always to 
stick in a pasty mass about the anthers. As a rule only one or two 
of the anthers open in these flowers, and as you examine the flowers, 
male_and female, on the forks as they get more and more removed 
from the original stem, they are more and more abortive. 
I am led to think, from what I have stated, that the flower-head, of 
males only, seen for so short a time, and hitherto overlooked by botanists, 
* DESCRIPTION OF FiGURE.— Section through head of primary flowering branch 
of Euphorbia amygdaloides. The primary floral leaves removed at AA.—B. The first 
ower-head that opens consisting of males alone.—C C. ‘The two hermaphrodite 
from flowers o ead, B —DD. Third series of hermaphrodite flower-heads with the 
fourth series at their bases, which are all developed during the summer, but seldom 
produce fruit. 
