306 GYN0-DI(ECI0U8 PLANTS. Chap. VII 



are short ; ilie anthers do not contain any sound pollen-grains, 

 but in their place yellow incoherent cells which do not swell 

 in water. Some plants were in an intermediate condition; that 

 is, had one or two or three stamens of proper length with per- 

 fect anthers, the other stameiis being rudimentary. In one such 

 plant half of one anther contained green perfect pollen-grains, 

 and the other half yeUowish-green imperfect grains. Both forms 

 produced seed, but I neglected to observe whether in equal 

 numbers. As I thought that the state of the anthers might be 

 due to some fungoid growth, I examined them both in the bud 

 and mature state, but could find no trace of mycelium. In 1862 

 many female plants were found ; and in 1864, 32 plants were 

 collected in two localities, exactly half of which were hermaphro- 

 dites, fourteen were females, and two in an intermediate con- 

 dition. In 1866, 15 plants were collected in another locality, 

 and these consisted of four hermaphrodites and eleven females. 

 I may add that this season was a wet one, which shows that the 

 abortion of the stamens can hardly be due to the dryness of the 

 sites where the plants grew, as I at one time thought pro- 

 bable. Seeds from an hermaphrodite were sown in my garden, 

 and of the 23 seedlings raised, one belonged to the intermediate 

 form, aU the others being hermaphrodites, though two or three 

 of them had unusually short stamens. I have consulted several 

 botanical works, but have found no record of this plant varying 

 in the manner here described. 



Plantago lamceolata (Plantagineae). — ^Delpino states that this 

 plant presents in Italy three forms, which graduate from an 

 anemophilous into an entomophilous condition. According to 

 H. Miiller,* there are only two forms in Germany, neither of 

 which show any special adaptation for insect fertilisation, and 

 both appear to be hermaphrodites. But I have found in two 

 localities in England female and hermaphrodite forms existing 

 together ; and the same fact has been noticed by others.t The 

 females are less frequent than the hermaphrodites ; their stamens 

 are short, and their anthers, which are of a brighter green 

 whilst young than those of the other form, dehisce properly, yet 

 contain either no pollen, or a small amount of imperfect grains 

 of variable size. All the flower-heads on a plant belong to 



• 'DieBefruchtuug,'&o.,p. 342. Mr. W. Marshall writes to me to 

 t Mr. 0. W. Orooker in ' The the same effect from Ely. 

 Gardener's Chronicle,' 1864, p. 294. 



