30 



DE. E. E. GATES— CONTEIBUTION TO A 



of rosettes soon developed along tlie stem, eacli apparently from a transformed bra 

 bud. One of these " lateral rosettes," which, is evidently in part a response to a new 

 gravitational stimulus, is shown in PL 3. fig. 28. These rosettes were very uniform, all 

 having the same arrangement and shape of leaves. The latter were all of one type, 

 which is very distinct from any of the leaves in the ordinary ontogeny of 0. rubrinerms, 

 or, for that matter, of any other form I know. 



A flowering shoot of 0. ruhrinervis (this plant derived from 0. riihrinervisX 

 O. Lamai'cMana) is represented in fig. 29 for comparison with 0. Lamarchiana (PL 1. 

 figs. 7 & 8J. It will he seen that the stem-leaves of this individual are more crinkled 

 than those of the 0. Lamarchiana plant represented in fig. 8, though in general the 

 leaves of 0. ItamarcUiana show this character more than those of 0. ruhrinervis. Honing 

 (1911) believes that the O. ruliHiiervis from O. rudrinetmsxO. Laynarchiana differs 



H 



from pure O. ruhrinervis and agrees with the O. hlanda of Schouten (1908). But I 

 have not been able to observe any constant difi^erence between 0. ru6rinervis derived 

 from this cross and. 0. ruhrinervis of pure parentage. 



PL 3. fig. 30 shows one of several tall plants of O. ruhricalyx which were grown in 

 heavy clay soil and, apparently as a result, developed no side branches. In this typical 

 plant it will be seen that there is a gradual decrease in the amount of crinkling on the 

 upper stem-leaves. PL 3. fig. 31 represents the fruiting stage of 0. ruhricalya\ showing 

 the characters of bracts and capsules. 



One other strikingly aberrant individual o£ 0. ruhrinervis which appeared in my 

 cultures in 1911 must be briefly described. It occurred in a lot of 34 plants derived 

 from the original 0. ruhricalyx mutant in the Pg, wliich probably represented a pure 

 homozygous race of 0. ruhricalyx^ for although all remained rosettes except the aberrant 

 individual, yet 32 showed clearly the 0. ruhricalyx pigment character of the rosette. The 

 aberrant plant, unlike the rest, scarcely developed any rosette but formed a tall stem. It 

 resembled 0, ruhri?iej^is most closely, from which it differed in the following characters. 

 The stem was smooth and terete, almost free from lonsr hairs. The leaves were of 



harder texture, considerably thicker, broader (12 mm.), and more pointed than in 

 O. ruhrinervis. They were also stiffcr, standing out from the stem, and some were 

 furrow-shaped, but they did not resemble O. laevifoUa. The flowers, which all showed the 

 same peculiarities, had elongated squarish ovaries, hypanthium scarcely at all developed, 

 bud-cone somewhat distorted, sepals with red stripes as in O. ruhrinervis. The stamens 

 were frequently more than 8 (one flower 10, another 13), crumpled and incompletely 

 coalesced with the petals, which were very much reduced and pale cream colour. The 

 stigma-lobes were variously distorted, and in several cases the pistil was composed of 

 three separate styles united at the base, each style bearing only 3 stigma-lobes. In 

 addition to these peculiarities, in six instances a leaf was formed in the axil of a 



J 



"bract, two of these leaves being ** pitchers " or ascidia. In one case a " pitcher " and a 

 normal leaf were both found in the axil of a simple bract. 



This peculiar plant formed no seeds, but was preserved as an herbarium specimen. 

 Its flowers recalled in some respects the virescent flowers of a certain race of Oenothera 



