484 



ANGIOSPERMAE — MONOCOTYLEDONES 



2880. L. Hostii Desv. (=L. flavescens Gaud). — There is no intermittence in 

 this markedly protogynous species. The tips of the yellow-green stigmas, beset with 

 transparent papillae, project from the perianth while it is still firmly closed. This 

 female stage lasts 3-4 days, the perianth then opens in the form of a star and the 

 flower is hermaphrodite for some hours. 



2881. L. Forsteri DC. — There is no intermittence in this species. After 

 a purely female stage lasting 4-5 days, the perianth opens for some hours ; the 

 anthers then dehisce, and finally, after 5-6 hours, the flower closes again. The 

 stigmas are white, pale-yellowish or greenish in colour. Schulz (' Beitrage,' II, 

 p. 171) states that in North Italy the flowers show all stages from marked to 

 feeble protogyny. 



2882. L. glabrata Desv. — No intermittence can be observed in this species. 

 The flowers are first female with closed perianth for 1-3 days. Then the perianth 

 opens for 24 hours at the most. When it closes again the papillae of the white 

 stigmas shrivel. 



2883. L. lutea DC— The pale golden- 

 yellow flowers of this Alpine species are female 

 1-2 days, the perianth then opening and a her- 

 maphrodite stage of 2-4 days' length following. 

 After 3-4 days the pale greenish-white stigmas, 

 beset with short velvety papillae, are no longer 

 receptive, so that the flowers are ultimately purely 

 male. 



During the hermaphrodite stage there is 

 ample opportunity for autogamy or geitonogamy, 

 the pollen being shaken about in clouds, and 

 rolling down to flowers situated lower, or reaching 

 the stigmas of adjacent flowers by direct contact 

 of the anthers. 



Hermann Miiller (' Alpenblumen,' pp. 38-9), however, states that protogyny 

 scarcely exists ; the stigmas are not completely mature when the flower begins to 

 open, and are only receptive when it is entirely so. The anthers dehisce soon after, 

 so that automatic self-poUination is easily possible. The flowers then close again, 

 and the stigmas shrivel. The smooth, loose pollen-grains are easily carried away by 

 wind, but they also cling to insects' bodies, so that pollen can sometimes also be 

 transferred by this means. Hermann Miiller, as already stated, actually observed 

 some visitors. 



2884. L. albida DC. ( = L. nemorosa E. Mey., and L. angustifolia Winder). — 

 Buchenau found this species (and also the variety rubella Hoppe in the Riesen- 

 gebirge) to be markedly protogynous. The female stage lasts one or two, perhaps 

 sometimes even three days. The flowers then open in one or two hours, and the 

 following hermaphrodite stage regularly lasts two days. On the third morning the 

 stigmatic papillae are shrivelled. Autogamy is therefore possible, but geitonogamy 

 more probable. It is also possible that the white inflorescences attract insects. 



Schulz ('Beitrage,' I, p. 102) gives a very different description. He says that 



Fig. 409. Lusuta lutea, DC. (after 

 Herm. Miiller). A. Flower just opening. 

 B. Do., open ( X 7). a, anthers ; br, bract ; 

 Qv^ ovary ; /, petals ; j, sepaJs ; st^ stigmas. 



