312 DE. H. H. W. PEAESON ON THE MOEPHOLOGT OF 



A third form has recently been described *, viz. ; 



3. A pure male, Tisually without any trace of infertile OYules or their envelopes. 



This has so far been described only in the two African species, G. africanum 

 and Q. Bucholzianum. In G. africanum an incomplete female flower is very 

 rarely present. 



Por many years there has been reason to suspect that still another form of spike 

 sometimes occurred in certain species, particularly in G. Gnemon. Lotsy f refers to "a 

 plate in Bumphius picturing a branch of a male tree of Gneium Gnemon with some 

 apparently normal adult fruits." Strasburger J found in an androgynous inflorescence 

 of G. Bru7ioniamim (=(r. Gnemon) received from Beecari that ^' waren die miinnlichen 

 Bliithen bereits abofcbliiht, theilweise absefallen, die weiblichen noch erlialten." 



Q^K^^^^^v, ^o^v^^x,, v--i^v^ ""--r. 



Commenting upon this and upon statements made by Blume § and Griffith || that the 

 2-enveloped ovules of the male spike may later develop a middle envelope, Strasburger 

 remarks ^ : — " Konnte vermuthet werden, dass diese Bliithen {i. e. incomplete female 

 flowers of the ' male ' spike) bei Gnetiim JBrunonianum sich auch noch welter entwickeln, 

 ja dass es auch noch andere Gnetum- Avte.n giebt, bei welchen die weiblichen Bliithen der 

 androgynen Bliithenstande noch keimfahiffe Samen erzeus^en ; unmoEjlich ist dieses 



J-V. .^L*a^W^ V.it.V.l..j,V^J^ , M.^..-LaW_ 



nicht, mir personlich aber kaum wahrscheinlich." 



On a later page Strasburger^ writes: — "Die einzige positive Angabe iiber drei 

 Hiillen an der weiblichen Bliithe der pseudo-androgynen Bliithenstande, wo sicher nur 

 solche vorlagen, wird von Tulasne** fiir Gnetum Leyholdi gemacht, allein aus den 

 eigenen Figuren Tulasne's ff ist zu ersehen, dass diese Angabe nur auf einer Tauschung 

 berulit." Lotsy Jt obtained from a collector in tbe neisjhbourhood of Buitenzoi 



„^*.^w^a.^wv^v^ v^v ^^..^^^^^^^ 



male branch with a young frait very much larger than the female flowers in the andro- 

 gynous infloresences." This inflorescence was broken, and bore no male flowers, but it 

 came from a male tree. The " fruit " which it bore possessed three normal integuments, 

 but was not fertilized. " Consequently, we have found here on a male tree a female 

 flower corresponding to those which occur normally on the female trees, it possessing 



like these three integuments and not two like the female flowers of the androgynous 

 inflorescences.'* 



r ^ 



In the material of Gnetum Gnemon now under consideration, ovules with three, 

 occasionally with/owr (see figs. % 3) envelopes occur, the former not uncommonly, in the 

 spikes which bear the male flowers. These complete female flowers when present are 



ually found in the lowest node. They are larger than tbe incomplete flowers, and 



was not certain that they oria^inated in the unpermost ring of 



the cases observed it 



the 



the male flowers of the nodes which bear them appear always to be few 



number than at ordinary nodes. In connection with the occurrence of these complete 

 flowers in the lower nodes of the spike, the following observation made by Mr. I. H 

 Burkill may be of interest. He Avrites from Singapore (20. viii,13) :—" After flowering 



♦ Pearson, 1912. f Lotsy, 1899, p. 53. t 



§ 



*'^ Tulasne, 1858, p. 116. ft Tulasaein Mart 



II Griffith, 1859, p. 301. f 



X 



