1896 | BOTANICAL PAPERS AT BUFFALO 223 
and remarked that groups of plants which show marked irregu- 
larities in form are nearly always fertile subjects for plant-breed- 
ing. The most nearly symmetrical flowers of this order are 
found in the banana tribe, in which five stamens are present and 
the sixth is represented by a sterile filament. He exhibited a 
banana fruit to show its five-angled form, and remarked that it is 
probable that somewhere in its phylogeny this fruit had lost its 
symmetry. He also called attention to the three seedless loculi 
of the fruit,and remarked that although the plant is seedless, it 
still varies or it is the subject of evolution, thus discrediting 
Weismann’s hypothesis that all progressive or permanent varia- 
tion arises through sexual union. 
In the ginger tribe the stamen is reduced to one normal mem- 
ber. In the canna tribe the stamen is represented by what is 
apparently but a single loculus of the anther, the other loculus 
being apparently developed into a foliaceous organ. The remain- 
ing stamens are represented by petal-like staminodia and these 
members make up the showy part of the flower. The speaker 
exhibited specimens of canna flowers, and also charts, to show 
the very marked evolution in the form and size of the flower, 
and more especially of the staminodia, and the gradual increase 
in the size of the petal-like appendage of the one fertile stamen. 
There seems to be a considerable decrease in seed production in 
the modern cannas as compared with the types of a generation 
and more ago, and this decrease is probably associated with less 
ae less efficient pollen, in the modern flowers. This tend- 
vies ‘ae seedlessness is seen in many cultivated plants, of 
mostly tiga is a good example. Since new varieties come 
breeding on ites Na ae ae ae 
Saga : eventually cease in these plants ; but ths ss < 
“ane at the constant choice of seeds for sowing is 1tse 
agent in conserving the seed-producing power of the 
lant 
a % long as we select seeds, so long may we expect the 
ee elect i eds i t of the 
individ selection to give seeds in at least a par 
uals of every generation. 
