THE MANGO 109 



The embryogeny of the mango cannot be discussed at great 

 length here. It is not yet thoroughly understood, although it 

 has been studied by several investigators. The most recent 

 account and the only one which has been undertaken with the 

 horticultural problems in mind, is that of John Belling, pub- 

 lished in the Report of the Florida Agricultural Experiment 

 Station for 1908. Belling says : 



"In the immature seed of the sweet orange E. Strasburger 

 has shown by the microscope, and Webber and Swingle have 

 proved by their hybridizing experiments that besides the ordi- 

 nary embryo which is the product of fertilization, the other 

 embryos present in the young or mature seeds arise by the out- 

 growth of nucellar cells into the apical part of the embryo-sac. 

 The first-mentioned embryo, when present, is liable to any 

 variation which is connected with sexual multiplication, the 

 vicinism of H. De Vries. The remaining embryos, on the other 

 hand, presumably resemble buds from the tree which bears 

 the orange in whose seed they grow, in that they inherit its 

 qualities with only a minor degree of variation." 



The behavior of the mango has suggested a similar state of 

 affairs. Belling goes on to quote Strasburger's account of the 

 embryogeny of the mango, and describes his own investigations : 



"Even in the unopened flower bud the nucellar cells at the 

 apex of the embryo sac which are separated from the sac only 

 by a layer of flattened cells, are swollen with protoplasm. In 

 older fruits it may be noticed that the cells around the apical 

 region of the sac except on the side near the raphe are also 

 swollen. The adventitious embryos arise from these swollen 

 cells, which in fruits 7 mm. long with ovules 3 mm. long divide 

 up, sometimes forming the rudiments of a dozen or more em- 

 bryos, but often fewer. The nucleated protoplasm on the 

 embryo-sac wall is undivided into cells, and is thick opposite 

 the places where embryo formation is going on." 



Belling worked with fruits of the No. 11 mango, seedling 



