Characters of the New Species. 445 



Plants annual or biennial, forming an erect, for the 

 most part branched stem. Flowers yellow, buds erect, 

 surmounted by the four tips of the calyx. Anthers lin- 

 ear, each inserted at its center upon filaments of equal 

 length. Stigma formed of four or more long cylindrical 

 parts, which are either free or more or less fused later- 

 ally. Calyx tube narrow, slightly broader at the top. 

 Fruits sessile, oblong, tapering upwards; seeds in two 

 rows in each loculus ; the integument of the seeds too 

 big for the kernel and therefore wrinkled. 



This list, taken in conjunction with the following 

 tables, will suffice to show that the new species belong 

 to the group in question both morphologically and sys- 

 tematically. That they are more closely related to O. 

 Lamarckiana than to 0. biennis, O, niuricata, 0. sua- 

 veolens or the other species of this group described in 

 systematic works, is shown, apart from their origin, by 

 certain characters of the flowers. In the first place these 

 are much larger than they are in the other forms ; and, 

 in the second, they have a longer style. The style raises 

 the stigma in the bud above the tips of the anthers. When 

 the flower opens the four stigmas expand into the form 

 of a cross, not touching the anthers, however, as a rule. 

 In 0. biennis on the other hand the stigmas lie, in the 

 bud, between the anthers and do not reach above them at 

 the time of flowering. 



This state of affairs is very important from the point 

 of view of fertilization. In O. biennis this takes place in 

 the bud because the anthers dehisce a whole day before 

 the flower opens; though the exact time of this is of 

 course subject to some variation. This fact obviously 

 makes the operation of castration preliminary to crossing 

 much more difficult, because it has to be done on very 



