u-ithout any apparent .Icf'ion of Pollen. 5 1 I 



absence of male flowers of the plant itself or of others related to it, and the 

 fact of the stigma remaining so long unchanged, and not exhibiting the sym- 

 ptoms usually seen in stigmas after having been acted upon by pollen, I can 

 arrive, — especially after the length of time during wliich I have watched it, — at 

 no other conclusion than that pollen is not essential to the perfecting its seeds : 

 but if an external agent be necessary, and really act upon the stigma, I am 

 unable to say what that agent is or how it acts. I might mention a view which 

 I at one time entertained, namely, that the viscid fluid which issues from the 

 glands situated below the ovarium might produce some eff"ect by exciting the 

 action of the pistillum ; and this view received some support from finding the 

 young stigma often smeared with the fluid. That there is some specific action 

 on the ovula I think there can be no doubt ; for, as in most other plants, some 

 of the ovula are fre({uently abortive. 



My object being merely to state the facts observed respecting this plant, 

 without the intention of advancing any opinion on the various theories of 

 vegetable impregnation, I shall conclude by merely observing, that the 

 absence of pollen in this instance is irreconcileable with the theory tliat 

 every grain of pollen furnishes a germ, and that the ovulum is merely a 

 matrix to receive and nourish it till it becomes a perfect seed. 



It is difficult to say whether this plant should be placed in any of tlie 

 numerous genera of Euphorbiacecc already described, the fruit scarcely dif- 

 fering from that of several well-known genera of the order: from its habit I 

 had considered it to bear some affinity to Sapium, and for that reason had 

 given it the name of Sapium Aqu'ifol'ium ; but on reviewing all its characters, 

 I am now inclined to believe it to be a new genus, to which the name of 

 Ccelebogyne may be given. 



Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, 

 June 3, 1839. 



