224. THE STKUCTUBE OF FLOWERS. 



anthers, but to higher differentiations and an increase in the 

 quantity of pollen. Secondly, that the orders, with gyno- 

 dioecism have the maximum of stamens, is not universally 

 true, Pelargonium having only seven out of ten. Again, the 

 Lahiatce are especially characterized by " entomophilous 

 structures." Lastly, the order Oaryophyllece is multiovulate. 

 In the first two interpretations, those of Miiller and 

 Darwin, Miiller suggests scanty noarishment as a cause for 

 the diminished size of the female flowers, which might apply 

 to any or every protandrous plant and so give rise to gyno- 

 dioecism ; for if it be a sufficient cause in one family, why has 

 it not brought it about in all ? This cause alone does not 

 touch the question. Why is gynodicecism peculiarly common 

 in the Alsinew of the CaryophylleiB and in Lahiatoe ? Mr. 

 Darwin thinks that an increased fertility of the female may 

 be the cause ; but he seems to forget that no flower of the 

 LabiatcB can bear more than four seeds, so that, supposing a 

 female plant to have the same number of flowers as a her- 

 maphrodite, if it bears more seeds it must be due to the 

 decrease in fertility of the latter, and not to any increase in the 

 foi-mer. * It is, in fact, a very common occuiTence for a flower 

 of any member of the Lahiatce to bear one, two, or three only, 

 as well as four nutlets in an individual fruit. Mr. Darwin 

 " doubts much whether natural selection has come into play,'' 

 and notices that " the abortion of the stamens ought in the 

 females to have added, through the law of compensation, to 

 the size of the corolla," as is the case in the ray florets of 

 the gynomonoecious Compositoe. He, however, recognizes the 



• In his experiment with Satureia hortensis, Mr. Darwin collected 

 seeds from the finest of ten female plants, and they weighed 78 grains ; 

 while those from the single hermaphrodite, which was a rather larger 

 plant than the female, weighed only 33'2 grains ; that is, in the ratio of 

 100 to 43 (Forme of Flowers, -p. 303). 



