340 Gates. 
Its diameter is about 3 mm., which is the same as that of the ovary 
at this time. At the upper end it expands suddenly to a diameter 
of about 5 mm. where it meets the base of the calyx. The diameter 
of the bud at the base of the cone is about 7—8.5 mm. The average 
length of the ovary at the time when the bud is nearly ready for 
opening is about Io mm. 
Running down the centre of each sepal is a median longitudinal 
ridge, the four giving the bud a characteristic squarish or quadrangular 
appearance. On either side of this ridge is a band of red of varying 
width. 
There are hence eight longitudinal bands of red stretching from 
the free sepal tips, which are green, to the base of the sepals. The 
base of the sepal cup, and the hypanthium are yellowish-green. 
Between these broad red bands are eight narrow yellowish-green lines. 
Four of these lines are formed by the ridges down the center of each 
sepal; the other four are the lines along which the edges of the sepals 
cohere. From the typical condition thus described (plate VI fig. 5), 
all possible stages in the reduction of the red color pattern, and less 
frequently stages in its extension, are found. In the condition most 
commonly occurring (fig. 5), the red band has a width at its widest 
part, of over 2 mm., while the greenish-yellow line where the sepals 
meet is less than I mm. wide. The greenish median ridges are still 
narrower. The margin of the red area is not usually straight and 
continuous, but more or less irregular, though usually definite enough 
to be clearly determined. 
The reduction of color from this condition begins along the line 
where the sepals meet, i. e., along the margin of the sepals. Usually 
this greenish line is less than I mm. wide, though it widens out below 
into a more or less triangular area adjoining the green area at the 
base of the sepal cup. The color recedes so as to broaden these four 
longitudinal lines, leaving a broken margin with often little islands of 
red along its border. The reduction is frequently greater on one side 
of the bud, i. e. on two of its sepals, and the difference in this respect 
is often great. The color is usually retained last along the central 
median ridge of each sepal, being densest generally near the middle of 
its length and decreasing or disappearing towards the top and bottom. 
This tendency for the red color to recede gradually from the margin 
of the sepals and to disappear last along the median ridge, appears 
to be quite definite. The variation then, so far as the extent of the 
red color pattern is concerned, is not in all directions but definite, 
