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MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Flowering and Fructification of the Vine. 

 By H. Mar^s and J. Planchon. 



In this succinct summary of our researches upon a subject appa- 

 rently exhausted we shall confine ourselves to the exposition of some 

 prominent facts, passing designedly over points of secondary im- 

 portance. 



The general structure of the flowers of the cultivated vine is well 

 known : — a calyx with five denticles, a corolla with five petals, the 

 edges of which touch and remain adherent at the apex, so as to form 

 a hood, which is most frequently raised by the stamina ; five stamina 

 opposite to the petals, with subulate filaments longer than the co- 

 rolla ; five hypogynous nectariferous glands ; an ovary with two or 

 three cells, produced into a short style, which is terminated by two 

 or three imperfectly marked stigmatic lobules. 



A singular deviation from this normal structure has been indi- 

 cated by one of us in certain varieties of vines grown in the south, 

 especially in the "Terrets." These are the stocks or the bunches 

 of flowers called in the idiom of Languedoc avalidou'ires, from an 

 old word avali, which implies the idea of disappearing, or becoming 

 efi'aced, without leaving any traces. The entire stocks affected by 

 this degeneration remain, in fact, absolutely sterile, except by the 

 intervention, whether accidental or artificial, of pollen derived from 

 other bunches, and capable of fecundating the ovaries of their 

 flowers. These flowers may be recognized at first sight by the 

 following characters : — their corolla, which persists for a long time, 

 opens and spreads into a five-rayed wheel, instead of forming a hood 

 and falling in a single piece ; their petals are greener and thicker 

 than in the normal state. The stamina, with comparatively short 

 filaments, present large anthers, of which the two thick turgid cells, 

 with well-marked fissures of dehiscence, either do not open at all or 

 only imperfectly, and contain only a pollen with lax and wrinkled 

 grains ; that is to say, these stamina are barren. The ovary and 

 stigma, on the contrary, are well formed and susceptible of impreg- 

 nation. 



Another type of abnormal flowers is that of the stocks called 

 coulards, a word which sufliciently expresses that we have to do 

 with bunches subject to drop and only forming scattered grapes. 

 This relative sterility, however, does not depend upon external 

 causes, such as unfavourable climatic conditions, although these may 

 aggravate it. It is due to the structure of the dropping flowers. 

 These, in some respects, occupy a middle place between the avali- 

 douires and the normal flowers. They often present one, two, or 

 three free petals side by side, with four, three, or two others which 

 adhere by their apices to form an incomplete hood. The 8estivation 

 of these petals is slightly imbricated. Very often the five petals 

 remain more or less united ; but their widened apices, which are 

 slightly undulated and bordered with a little red edge, have an open- 



