Chap. VII. GYNO-DICECIOUS PLANTS. 299 



aquatica, and Prwnella vulgaris. In these two latter 

 species the female form, according to H. Miiller, is 

 infrequent. To these must be added Dracocephalum 

 MoldaviGv/m, Melissa officinalis and elinipodium, and 

 Eyssopus officinalis* In the two last-named plants the 

 female form likewise appears to be rare, for I raised 

 many seedlings of both, and all were hermaphrodites. 

 It has already been remarked in the Introduction that 

 andro-dioecious species, as they may be called, or those 

 which consist of hermaphrodites and males, are ex- 

 tremely rare, or hardly exist. 



Thymus serpyllum. — The hermaphrodite plants pre- 

 sent nothing particular in the state of their reproduc- 

 tive organs ; and so it is in all the following cases. The 

 females of the present species produce rather fewer 

 flowers and have somewhat smaller corollas than the 

 hermaphrodites ; so that near Torquay, where this 

 plant abounds, I could, after a little practice, distin- 

 guish the two forms whilst walking quickly past them. 

 According to Vaucher, the smaller size of the corolla 

 is common to the females of most or all of the above- 

 mentioned Labiatse. The pistil of the female, though 

 somewhat variable ii^ length, is generally shorter, 

 with the margins of the stigma broader and formed 

 of more lax tissue, than that of the hermaphrodite. 

 The stamens in the female vary excessively in length ; 

 they are generally enclosed within the tube of the 



* H. Miiller, ' Die Befruchtung and Lecoq were mistaken in think- 

 Jer Biumen,' 1873 ; and ' Nature,' ing that several of the plants 

 187S, p, 161. Vaucher, 'Plantes named in the text are dicecious. 

 d'Europe,' torn. iii. p. 611. For They appear to have assumed that 

 Diacooeplialum, Sohimper, as the hermaphiodite form was a 

 quoted by Bjaun, ' Annals and male ; perhaps they were de- 

 Mag, of Nat. Hist.' 2nd series, vol. ceived by the pistil not becoming 

 xviii. 1856, p. 3H0, Lecoq, ' Geo- fully developed and of propel 

 graphic Bot. de I'Europe,' torn. viii. length until some time after the 

 pp. 33, 38, 44, &o. Both Vaucher anthers have deliisecd. 



