MINUTE STRUCTURE OF PLANT HYBRIDS. 



209 



cartilaginous, very finely serrulate edge. The leaf-stalk is about -| inch long, convex 

 below, flattened above, transversely jointed in the middle. The flower-stalks are axillary, 

 about the length of the petiole, and bear numerous overlapping glabrous bracts, ovate- 

 concave in shape, and increasing in size from below upwards. The flower is solitary, 

 pendulous, with a calyx of three fleshy, glaucous, pale rosy-purple, oblong-lanceolate, 

 boat-shaped sepals, and a corolla of an equal number of fleshy, bright rose-coloured 

 petals, which are slightly unequal in size, overlapping, broadly ovate-acute, with a 

 circular honey pore on the inner surface at the base. The stamens are six in number, free, 

 hypogynous or attached at the very base of the segments of the perianth, and a little 

 shorter than the petals. The filaments are fleshy, subulate, pink-spotted. The anthers 

 are about \ inch long, yellow, linear-oblong, two-celled, dehiscing by a longitudinal 

 chink at the side, tubular at the base, so that the extremity of the filament is concealed 

 at its point of insertion by a kind of sheath ; pollen scanty. The ovary is about \ inch long, 

 elliptic, glaucous, one-celled, with three parietal placentae, and surmounted by a columnar 

 style, which slightly exceeds the petals in length, and is terminated by a triangular 

 capitate stigma. The ovules are numerous and anatropal." 



" Such is the description of this hybrid production. Hybrids between two genera are, 

 to say the least, uncommon, and it may be that some will consider this hybrid as a proof 

 that Lapageria and Philesia constitute not two, but one genus. To us, however, it 

 seems, with a due appreciation of the arbitrary character of many of the so-called dis- 

 tinctions between genera, that the two genera in question are as distinct as two such allied 

 groups can well be. Lapageria has a regularly six-parted perianth, and free stamens : 

 Philesia has a distinct calyx and corolla, and partially inseparate or monadelphous 

 stamens. Lapageria is a climber: Philesia an erect shrub." 



" In habit our plant is, of the two, more akin to the female parent (Lapageria) than to 

 the male. Its foliage is singularly intermediate, but at the same time nearest like that 

 of the pollen parent (Philesia). In the characters of the flower-stalk, calyx, and corolla, 

 it is more like Philesia than Lapageria, but in the stamens it approximates to the 

 mother-plant, and diverges from the characters of the male. In colour it is also more 

 like the mother-plant than it is like Philesia. The fruit we have not seen." 



" The characteristics of both parents are so curiously blended that we fear this plant 

 will not lend much aid to those investigators who are striving to determine what is the 

 effect on the offspring of pollen or seed parent respectively. On the whole, it would seem 

 as though the organs of vegetation, including the calyx and corolla, were more like those 

 of the male (Philesia), while in the stamens and pistil the progeny ' favour the mother.' ' : 



I have chosen for description the largest, oldest, and most mature material available ; 

 and, unless otherwise stated in the text, it is from this that preparations have been made 

 throughout.* 



1. Lapageria 



rosea. 



2. Philageria 



Veitchii. 



3. Philesia buxi 



folia. 



* In all succeeding descriptions the names of parents and hybrids are printed at the top of each page, and numbered 

 in italics. The seed parent, if determined, is in all cases 1, the hybrid 2, and pollen parent 3. For brevity these 

 numbers are used in the text. 



