“128 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [aucust 
It is clear that in the higher flowering plants maleness and 
femaleness are two series of morphological steps beginning in the 
development of stamens and pistils from cells of the closest somatic 
lineage. Any diploid or haploid nuclear organization can become 
either male or female according to whether its cell lineage leads 
through stamens or pistils. In this sense maleness and female- 
ness are acquired; they are conditions imposed upon cell organi- 
zation rather than existing as separate inherent conditions; they 
begin in somatic differentiation that is fundamentally on the 
same basis as differentiation of stems, leaves, and sterile floral 
organs. Potentially maleness and femaleness (either morphologi- 
cal or physiological) reside in every cell of the sporophyte. The 
reduction divisions preceding the gametophytic divisions give the 
same range of nuclear organization to both kinds of spores. 
It is such conditions, emphasized by the wide occurrence of 
hermaphrodites, that compel us to state the problems of sex 
determination in such questions as the following: 
1. What physiological and chemical processes Operate when sex 
differentiation appears and is initiated morphologically among 
organs which develop side by side from cells of the same somatic 
lineage ? 
2. Should we not regard dioecism as the suppression of male- 
ness or femaleness in an individual as a whole (either in sporophytic 
or in gametophytic generations, or in both) ? 
We may note that intersexuality completely fills the gap 
between hermaphroditism and dioecism. In this respect the 
conditions in plants fully agree and supplement those reported 
in animals. Viewing all the evidence, we may at the present time 
make the following conclusions, which are in general harmony 
with’ the facts and the conclusions of GOLDSCHMIDT, BANTA, 
Rippre, and Liz: (1) Fundamentally maleness and female- 
ness reside in all somatic cells of all sporophytic individuals. 
(2) Maleness and femaleness are quantitative differentiations; 
there are all grades of intersexes. Maleness and femaleness are 
relative; there are all grades of compatibilities. (3) Sex deter- 
mination, at least in hermaphrodites, is fundamentally a phenom- 
enon of somatic differentiation that is ultimately associated with 
