CHAP. VII. GYNO-DIOECIOUS PLANTS. 299 



aquatica, and Prunella vulgaris. In these two latter 

 species the female form, according to H. Muller, is 

 infrequent. To these must be added Dracocephalum 

 filoldavieum, Melissa officinalis and clinipodium, and 

 Hyssopus offieinalis.* In the two last-named plants the 

 female form likewise appears to be rare, for I raised 

 many seedlings of both, and all were hermaphrodites. 

 It has already been remarked in the Introduction that 

 andro-dioecious species, as they may be called, or those 

 which consist of hermaphrodites and males, are ex- 

 tremely rare, or hardly exist. 



Thymus serpyttum. The hermaphrodite plants pre- 

 sent nothing particular in the state of their reproduc- 

 tive organs ; and so it is in all the following cases. The 

 females of the present species produce rather fewer 

 flowers and have somewhat smaller corollas than the 

 hermaphrodites ; so that near Torquay, where this 

 plant abounds, I could, after a little practice, distin- 

 guish the two forms whilst walking quickly past them. 

 According to Vaucher, the smaller size of the corolla 

 is common to the females of most or all of the above- 

 mentioned Labiatae. The pistil of the female, though 

 somewhat variable in length, is generally shorter, 

 with the margins of the stigma broader and formed 

 of more lax tissue, than that of the hermaphrodite. 

 The stamens in the female vary excessively in length ; 

 they are generally enclosed within the tube of the 



* H. Muller, ' Die Befruphtung and Leooq were mistaken in think- 

 der Blurnen,' 1873; and 'Nature,' ing that several of the plants 

 1873, p. 161. Vaucher, ' Plautes named in the text are dioecious. 

 d'Europe," torn. iii. p. 611. For They appear to have assumed that 

 Dracocephalum, Schimper, as the hermaphrodite form was a 

 quoted by Braun, ' Annals and male ; perhaps they were de- 

 Mag, of Nat. Hist.' 2nd series, vol. ceived by the pistil not becoming 

 xviii. 1856, p. 380. Lecoq, ' Geo- fully developed and of proper 

 graphie Bot. de T Europe,' torn. viii. length until some time after tho 

 pp. 33, 38, 44, &c. Both Vaucher anthers have dehisced. 



