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away. The stamens which are erected against the pistil, as 

 soon as the corolla has dropped, slowly recede from the pistil 

 and become obliquely disposed to it ; five or ten minutes after 

 " the anthers oscillate on their point of attachment so as to 

 turn outwards the face which was previously in contact with 

 the stigma, then the face of the anther bursts, with the 

 result that the pollen becomes liberated." The pollen only 

 falls out after the rotation of the anther has taken place. 

 The auto-fecundation of the flower is therefore prevented by 

 the physiological disposition of the floral organs, and cross- 

 fecundation therefore generally happens. Millardet has 

 shown, however, some rare cases of special flowers, which he 

 terms operculated (Malbeck, for instance), in which the 

 corolla does not normally or accidentally fall away (non- 

 setting, owing to atmospheric conditions), and in which auto- 

 fecundation does not take place. Rathay and the writers 

 have often observed auto-fecundation. 



The pollen is carried, by wind or by insects, from one 

 flower to another on the same vine, or from one vine to 

 another and is deposited on the stigma, wetted with a special 

 liquid, in which it emits pollen tubes, which, travelling through 

 the style, reach and fecundate the ovules. 



According to Millardet the phenomena are similar for 

 cultivated or wild vines. In the latter the recession of the 

 stamens and the rotating movement of the anthers on the 

 filaments are still more pronounced. This process of flores- 

 cence is constant with all hermaphrodite flowers with long 

 stamens. 



The studies of Millardet and E. Rathay* have definitely 

 determined these facts, previously observed by J. E. Plan- 

 chon, on the difference of constitution of flowers. Many 

 species in a wild state have male and hermaphrodite flowers. 

 Many forms of Rupestris and 

 Berlandieri, for instance, have 

 exclusively male flowers (Fig. 

 59) ; the pistil is abortive and 

 reduced to a small nipple, around 

 which are erected long filaments 

 (much longer than those of her- 

 maphrodite flowers With long Fig ' S9--Male Flowers. 



stamens). The stamens remain erect after the florescence, 



* E. Rathay, Die Geschlechtsverh&ltniss der Reben t Wein, 1888. 



