ANTENNARIA PLANTAGINIFOI.IA. MOUSE-EAR EVERLASTING. 3 I 



pistils, while tlic outer are female or pistillate. It was this strict 

 separation of the sexes, in fact, which induced modern botanists 

 to separate our plants from the Gnaphaliiims, and to set them 

 up for themselves in the genus Antcnnaria. So striking is the 

 peculiarity that Rafinesque suggested the name Disynaiithns 

 for the genus, a Greek compound, signifying " two (individuals) 

 together," in allusion to the necessary co-operation of two indi- 

 viduals in the propagation of the kind. But the name did not 

 prevail, as the genus had already been called Antcnnaria, and 

 in botany the oldest name always takes precedence. 



A very interesting fact in connection with the dioecious 

 character of Antennaiaa plantaginifolia is recorded in the first 

 volume of the " Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club," in an 

 article apparently from the pen of the editor. Speaking of some 

 flowers found in bloom at Bergen Neck, near New York, on the 

 14th of May, the writer of this article remarks that they were 

 all staminate, or male, and expresses it as his belief that the 

 pistillate, or female flowers must have been perfected several 

 weeks before. It is true, no doubt, that in many plants the 

 pistils seem to be perfected a day or two before the anthers 

 burst, and this fact has been explained as implying an arrange- 

 ment in favor of cross-fertilization. But the dioecious distribu- 

 tion of the flowers may also be regarded in the same light ; and 

 yet so great a difference in time between the appearance of the 

 sexes, if confirmed and found to be general, would seem to 

 negate all possibilities of fertilization. The author of the article 

 in question is, therefore, perfectly correct when he says that the 

 matter is worthy of further examination. 



The immense amount of variation to be found in our species 

 is another point of interest, and our knowledge of this tendency 

 to vary is greatly assisted by the mode of growth of the plant. 

 Being a perennial, and multiplying by means of little runners, 

 one plant must necessarily produce quite a large number of indi- 

 viduals together in a patch, all of which have sprung from one 

 seedling, and therefore have the tendency to perpetuate and 



