1 68 BOTANY or CROP PLANTS 



on the edges. The lemma and palet of the fertile flower are 

 short, broad and membranous. In pod corn, glumes, lemma, 

 and palet attain a considerable size and enclose the grain. 

 The single ovary bears one long style, the corn "silk," which 

 is forked at the tip. It is well to remember that there is one 

 silk for each grain on the cob. Weatherwax considers the 

 corn silk a compound stigma rather than a style. The silk 

 is indeed receptive to pollen a good portion of its length, 

 possibly all. A hot, dry wind may wither the silks, thus 

 destroying their receptivity to pollen. Fertilization of the 

 ovules consequently does not take place, and the ovules do 

 not mature. The short protuberance at the top of the ovary 

 is considered by Weatherwax to be the style. It is traversed 

 by a canal, the stylar canal. Three small rudimentary 

 stamens have been observed by Baillon, and Weatherwax, in 

 the fertile flower; the lodicules are absent. The small 

 aborted flower has rudimentary stamens and pistil about 

 equally developed; the lodicules are present. 



Hermaphroditic Flowers. — Ordinarily in corn the flowers 

 are imperfect, that is either staminate or pistillate. Perfect 

 or hermaphroditic flowers sometimes occur, however. Herma- 

 phroditic flowers are far more common on the tassel than on 

 the ear. East and Hayes record a sterile dwarf mutation 

 which had nothing but hermaphroditic flowers. Hermaphro- 

 ditic flowers have the stamens reduced. Lodicules are well 

 developed in staminate flowers, reduced in hermaphroditic 

 flowers, and altogether absent in fertile pistillate flowers. 

 Montgomery observed hermaphroditic flowers on normal 

 types of ears. The plants from these seeds came true to 

 type. The seed was normal in every respect except that it 

 had three fully developed stamens coming from near the 

 base of the ovary. There were also three small stamens in 

 the aborted flower of each pistillate spikelet. The plants 



