CHAP. IV. LYTHRUM SALICAEIA. . 141 



styled or short-styled forms, 100 of them were placed 

 in a good balance, and by the double method of weigh- 

 ing were found to equal, 121 seeds of the mid-styled or 

 142 of the short-styled ; so that five long-styled seeds 

 very nearly equal six mid-styled or seven short-styled 

 seeds. 



Mid-styled form. The pistil occupies the position 

 represented in the diagram, with its extremity consi- 

 derably upturned, but to a variable degree; the 

 stigma is seated between the anthers of the longest 

 and the shortest stamens. The six longest stamens 

 correspond in length with the pistil of the long-styled 

 form; their filaments are coloured bright pink; the 

 anthers are dark-coloured, but from containing bright- 

 green pollen and from their early dehiscence they appear 

 emerald-green. Hence in general appearance these 

 stamens are remarkably dissimilar from the mid-length 

 stamens of. the long-styled form. The six shortest sta- 

 mens are enclosed within the calyx, and resemble in 

 all respects the shortest stamens of the long-styled 

 form ; both these sets correspond in length with the 

 short pistil of the short-styled form. The green pol- 

 len-grains of the longest stamens are 9-10 in dia- 

 meter, whilst the yellow grains from the shortest 

 stamens are only 6 ; or as 100 to 63. But the pollen- 

 grains from different plants appeared to me, in this 

 case and others, to be in some degree variable in size. 

 The capsules contain on an average 130 seeds; but 

 perhaps, as we shall see, this is rather too high an 

 average. The seeds themselves, as before remarked, 

 are smaller than those of the long-styled form. 



Short-styled form. The pistil is here very short, not 

 one- third of the length of that of the long-styled form. 

 It is enclosed within the calyx, which, differently from 

 that in the other two forms, does not enclose any an- 



