356 



STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



chapter for a fruit possessing 120 ovules is that 80 mature 

 as seeds, 30 fail soon after the preliminary enlargement due 

 to fertilisation, and 10 fail after they have attained a fourth 

 or a third of the size of the normal seed. In the typical 

 oblong fruit 9 or 10 ovules soon abort at the bottom of each 



Iris Pseudacorus 



Outline-figures of the capsules of Iris Pseudacorus showing 

 the eflect on the shape of the partial failure of the ovules and 

 young seeds in different parts of the fruit, as described in the 

 text. 



A=a typical regular fruit. 



B = a club-shaped or bulbous fruit. 



C=a fiddle-shaped fruit. 



D = a curved or arcuate fruit. 



compartment. The occasional early failure of nearly all the 

 ovules in the lower third of the young fruit gives the mature 

 capsule a bulbous or club-like shape. I found such fruits 

 frequent in one locality. An outline-figure of one of them 

 is given above. If this became the rule, the bulbous form 

 would become a specific constant. Should the early failure 



