148 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



FIG. 58. Flowers of Silene mar'itima. 

 A, female flower with rudimentary stamens; 

 11, hermaphrodite flower. 



consisting of an ovary stylus and stigma in reduced 



conditions. 



In Melandryum (fig. 59, A) the female flowers 



retain only 

 vestiges of 

 stamens, and 

 the pistils of 

 the male flowers 

 are reduced to 

 mere filaments. 

 In Asparagus 

 officinalis all the 

 transition stages 

 between herma- 

 phrodite and unisexual flowers may be observed : 



in the unisexual 



flowers, the organs 



of the opposite sex 



still exist, though 



in various stages of 



degeneration. In 



many unisexual 



flowers which have 



sprung from herma- 

 phrodite flowers 



Valeriana dioica, 



for instance 



traces 



functional organs remain. 



Among the Phanerogams, rudimentary organs 



FIG. 59. Flowe r s of Melandryum album. 

 JJQ A (to the left), a female flower; to the right, a 

 male flower ; e, rudimentary stamens form- 



of the non- ln & a cu ' c ^ e at * ue " )ase f fc ' lc va iy- 



