OCTOBER. 183 



of 1500 feet or more, to see them. The flowers are not 

 particularly attractive to look upon, yet to the botanist 

 they are most interesting. They are hermaphrodite in 

 structure that is, they contain both stamens and pistil, 

 yet they are as incapable of self -fertilisation as if they had 

 been dioecious, which they are in function. This is brought 

 about by a curious device known to botanists as protogyny, 

 one which is not uncommon in plants which are fertilised 

 by the wind. As soon as the little green flowers open the 

 red stigmas expand and project to a very considerable 

 extent. After two or three days' exposure they wither 

 away, and then the stamens are thrust forth, and their 

 pendent anthers scatter out little clouds of dusty pollen. 

 Nature seems very prodigal in the enormous numbers of 

 germs which are cast forth in the perpetuation of species ; 

 but perhaps a more wonderful thing even than the vast- 

 ness of the numbers Which are produced only to die is 

 the immense potentiality which exists in each one of 

 these microscopic germs. The common tutu is always 

 hermaphrodite; the smaller alpine forms are sometimes 

 dioecious. 



A few heaths come into flower this month. The common- 

 est and best known of these is the snowberry (Gaultherifi 

 antipoda), one of those extremely variable forms which 

 ought probably to be divided into several distinct species, 

 ranging as it does from small creeping shrubs to small trees 

 of erect habit and 20 feet or more in height. It is the only 

 plant of the order known to me which shows a tendency 

 to separation of the sexes in the flowers. In some plants 

 truly hermaphrodite flowers are found, but in these the 

 stamens mature considerably before the stigmas. In others 

 the stamens are in a more or less aborted form until a 

 stage is reached where the anthers are represented by small 

 bent portions on the summit of a diminished filament. 

 The base of the corolla always contains nectar. The 

 stamens are very curious in structure, as is the case in 

 so many heaths ; the anthers have as a rule two little 

 horns or awns at the back, and they open to let the pollen 



