2S2 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LIV 



flower buds, the anthers may be recognized through the sepals. 

 These four plants are not monoecious, since male, hermaphrodite 

 and female flowers appeared simultaneously on the same plant. 



Plant No. 3-1 made a vigorous growth from the beginning. 

 Its foliage was dark green. The first flowers were female and 

 these were produced in increasing numbers. No attempt was 

 made to count the female flowers prior to the appearance of male 

 and hermaphrodite flowers. As can be seen from the table the 

 female flowers always outnumbered the male and hermaphrodite 

 flowers. Until September 10 the male flowers were more abun- 

 dant than the hermaphrodite. On September 12, there was a 

 sudden increase in the number of hermaphrodite flowers. This 

 rather sporadic appearance of flowers other than female flowers 

 shows how impossible it is to determine at one time the sex of 

 the individual. It is apparent that it is essential that such indi- 

 viduals be studied throughout their whole life history. Thus 

 through the first three months of its history this plant was fe- 

 male, after that it was polygamous, monoecious, and gynomonce- 

 cious. It was polygamous when beside the female flowers there 

 appeared male and hermaphrodite flowers, monoecious when only 

 male flowers appeared in association with the female flowers, and 

 gynomonoecious when hermaphrodite flowers appeared together 

 with female flowers. The total number of male and hermaphro- 

 dite flowers was about equal (table). This plant may be char- 

 acterized as a polygamous one. 



While there were no definite points at which male or herma- 

 phrodite flowers appeared, there were branches that continued 

 to produce only female flowers throughout the life of the plant. 

 Thousands of seeds were collected from the plant. 



Plant No. 3-2 like plant No. 1 made a vigorous growth. Its 

 foliage was much lighter than that of plant No. 1 but the plant 

 was healthy. As can be seen from the table the number of male 

 and hermaphrodite flowers that appeared at one time was rela- 

 tively larger than in any of the other plants. This condition 

 was maintained throughout the life of the plant. This plant 

 from the time of the appearance of male and hermaphrodite 

 flowers was decidedly polygamous, prior to that it produced fe- 

 male flowers like plant No. 1. During the period in which the 

 three kinds of flowers were counted, female, male, and hermaph- 

 rodite, the male flowers were in excess. It may be conceived 



