370 Ever-sporting Varieties 



feet and more or less numerous ovules may be 

 produced. The anthers become rudimentary 

 and in their place broad leafy flaps are de- 

 veloped, which protrude laterally from the tip 

 and constitute the stigmas. Ordinarily these 

 altered organs are sterile, but in some instances 

 a very small quantity of seed is produced, and 

 when testing their viability I succeeded in 

 raising a few plants from them. 



The same anomaly occurs in other plants. 

 The common wall-flower {Cheiranthus Cheiri) 

 and the houseleek {Sempervivum tectorum) are 

 the best known instances. Both have repeated- 

 ly been described by various investigators. In 

 compiling the literature of this subject it is 

 very interesting to observe the two contrasting 

 views respecting the nature of this anomaly. 

 Some writers, and among them Masters in his 

 " Vegetable Teratology " consider the devia- 

 tions to be merely accidental. According to them 

 some species are more subject to this anomaly 

 than others, and the houseleek is said to be very 

 prone to this change. Groeppert, Hofmeister 

 and others occasionally found the pistilloid pop- 

 pies in fields or gardens, and sowed their seeds 

 in order to ascertain whether the accidental 

 peculiarity was inheritable or not. On the 

 other hand De Candolle in his " Prodromus " 

 mentions the pistilloid wall-flowers as a distinct 



