xxx RHIZOPHORA 451 



Warming in one of his figures gives a fruit where an interval of 

 some months seems to be indicated, since one of the seedlings has 

 fallen out and the other is protruding less than an inch. By cutting 

 across a fruit containing two seeds one may sometimes observe one 

 seed quiescent and the other beginning to germinate. The signifi- 

 cance of this occasional interval between the germination of seeds 

 in the same fruit will be referred to in a later page. 



The Seasons of Flowering and Fruiting of the Species of Rhizo- 

 phora in Fiji. 



The Selala flowers all the year. With the two American 

 and Asiatic species there are considerable variations between 

 different localities. Generally speaking, they flower and fruit all 

 the year through ; but the flowers are usually less abundant in the 

 warm season from December to February, and the germinating 

 fruits which are to be observed on the trees every month of the 

 year are more numerous in that season. 



The History of the Reproductive Process in Rhizophora from the 

 Fertilisation of the Ovule to the Falling of the Plantlet or Seedling 

 from the Tree. 



I devoted great attention to this subject in the instance of 

 Rhizophora mangle, being desirous of determining two points, in 

 the first place as to whether there was any period of rest between 

 the maturation and germination of the seed, and in the second 

 place as to the period that elapsed between the commencement of 

 germination and the fall of the seedling. 



The principal change in the ovary for the first three or four 

 weeks after fertilisation is shown in its increased breadth. The 

 increase in height is but slight during this period ; and in fact after 

 thirty days the ovary only added 2 millimetres to its original 

 height of 3 millimetres. After this the growth of the fruit 

 proceeds until the tip of the radicle pierces its summit, the fruit 

 being then about eleven lines (2*8 cm.) long. From the date of 

 fertilisation to the time the radicle pierces the top of the fruit a 

 period of about fifteen weeks elapses. (The fruit, it should be here 

 remarked, continues to grow in length and breadth after the radicle 

 has protruded, attaining a length of thirteen or fourteen lines 

 [3-5 cm.] when the seedling or " keimling " is ready to fall.) 



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