SERICEA AND OTHER PERENNIAL LESPEDEZAS 5 



As far as studies have been made, sericea appears to be immune 

 to the root knot nematode, and this fact adds to its value as a 

 soil-improving crop on lands that are later to be planted to crops 

 susceptible to root knot. 



Flower and Seed Development 



Two kinds of flowers, designated as "petaliferous" and "apet- 

 alous", have been noted by McKee and Hyland (20). The petalif- 

 erous flower has a fully developed corolla and is conspicuous. 

 In the apetalous type, the corolla is rudimentary and the flower 

 does not open until the developing pod forces the calyx apart. 

 Hanson (10), working with Korean lespedeza, L. stipulacea, 

 found that in apetalous flowers, the pollen germinates within the 

 anther sacs and the pollen tubes enter the stigma after penetrating 

 the anther wall. Stitt (32), in a study of natural crossing in 

 sericea, concluded that the seed from apetalous flowers were ail 

 self-pollinated, but natural crossing occurred in petaliferous 

 flowers varying from 61 to 81 percent in the plants tested. Seed 

 pods from apetalous and petaliferous flowers can be readily 

 identified on the basis of size and shape of pod and style (fig. 3) . 



Figure 3. — Sericea lespedeza seed showing seed from apetalous flowers on the 

 left and from petaliferous flowers on the right. Seed A from F.C. 19284 

 and B from 04730. 



