* 



icmo] EDWARDS— IIEDYOSMUM 413 



perianth at the corners of the ovary, alternating with the three 

 vascular bundles of the ovary itself, suggests that the perianth 

 may be composed of three modified stamens standing one at each 

 angle of the ovary. There is no definite evidence in favor of this 

 view, since the earliest phases of the developing perianth show no 

 essential peculiarities common to the perianth and to the stamens. 

 The difficulty in accepting this homology is found in the unusual 

 development of the upper portion of the perianth, the tissue of 

 which in the earliest observed stages was in direct continuity with 

 that of the ovary. In favor of such a view as just mentioned, 

 perhaps, is Engler's statement that the stamens of Chloranthus 

 inconspicuns Sw T . are united w r ith a somewhat similar structure ex- 

 tending upward beyond the ovary about one-half its circumference. 



Here also must be mentioned the fact that Eichler (6, p. 7, 

 in fig. 3 B and C) shows in Chloranthus inconspicuns an additional 

 structure outside the three stamens, which he designates as a 

 perianth. He says: "Das unterstandige Ovar tragt an dem der 

 Braktee zugekehrten Rande ein kleines, mehr weniger herablau- 

 fendes Schiippchen, das gewohnlich als Andeutung eines Perigons 

 betrachtet wird, und innerhalb dieses ein der Axe zugekriimmtes 

 grosses dreilappiges Gebilde, das Androecium. " Which of the two 

 structures mentioned compares most closely in origin with the peri- 

 anth of Hedyosmum must be determined by a study of the de- 

 velopment of these structures in Chloranthus. 



It seems clear from the preceding that the origin and growth of 

 the structure termed perianth in Hedyosmum, especially in the 

 presence of the lateral pore, differs from that of the perianth of 

 any other angiosperm so far as is known to the writer. 



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Ovary. — The initial stage in the development of the ovary 

 is that of a convex mass of cells (fig. 7). The outer margin of this 

 dome of cells soon begins to grow more actively, thus leaving a 

 depression in the center of the originally convex mass of cells 

 (fig. 8, flower on left). The rapidly upgrowing ring of cells forms 

 the wall of the ovary, while the central depression which is thus 

 left at length becomes the ovarian cavity (figs. 8, .13, 18). By 

 the continued upgrowth of the carpellary tissue about this depres- 

 sion, the ovarian cavity becomes deepened (figs. 13, 14 Oi'C). 



