370 Ever-sporting Varieties 



feet and more or less numerous ovules may be 

 produced. The anthers become rudimentary 

 and in their place broad leafy flaps are de- 

 veloped, which protrude laterally from the tip 

 and constitute the stigmas. Ordinarily these 

 altered organs are sterile, but in some instances 

 a very small quantity of seed is produced, and 

 when testing their constancy I succeeded in 

 raising a few plants from them. 



The same anomaly occurs in other plants. 

 The common wall-flower (Cheiranthus Cheiri) 

 and the houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum) are 

 the best known instances. Both have repeated- 

 ly been described by various investigators. In 

 compiling the literature of this subject it is 

 very interesting to observe the two contrasting 

 views respecting the nature of this anomaly. 

 Some writers, and among them Masters in his 

 Vegetable Teratology consider the deviations 

 to be merely accidental. According to them 

 some species are more subject to this anomaly 

 than others, and the houseleek is said to be 

 very prone to this change. Goeppert, Hofmeis- 

 ter and others occasionally found the pistilloid 

 poppies in fields or gardens, and sowed their 

 seeds in order to ascertain whether the acci- 

 dental peculiarity was inheritable or not. On 

 the other hand De Candolle in his Prodromus 

 mentions the pistilloid wall-flowers as a distinct 



