74 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. 9 
Experimental Plots 
In order to determine whether the sex could be reversed under definite 
control, a small number of plants was dug up on June 14, 1919, and trans- 
planted into a special bed on the north side of the greenhouse at the west end. 
There were 25 pure carpellate plants, 5 intermediate plants, and 10 pure 
staminate plants. They were all treated alike, having most of their roots 
removed and all but a small fragment of the leaf blade cut away. The 
habitat was rather dry, and no artificial watering was done after the first 
few days. The date of transplanting was rather late, and it was feared 
that the incipient inflorescence buds might already have their sexual state 
determined. This fear was, however, mostly unfounded, as the next 
spring's crop of flowers proved. Under the treatment all the plants were 
expected either to stay in the pure male state or to change over to the male 
condition. 
The following was the result in the spring of 1920: 
Of the 10 originally staminate plants, one died and 9 were still pure 
staminate. 
All of the 5 originally intermediate or monoecious plants were pure 
staminate. 
Of the 25 originally pure carpellate plants, 21 changed to pure staminate, 
2 remained pure carpellate, and 2 had intermediate inflorescences. One 
of the originally carpellate plants gave rise to pure staminate "vegetative 
twins" which were counted as a single plant in the statistics. Of the two 
intermediate individuals, one had a carpellate inflorescence with two stami- 
nate flowers at the top and the other had a carpellate inflorescence with 
seven staminate flowers at the top. 
Under the treatment, therefore, all the monoecious plants changed to 
the male condition, and out of the 25 carpellate plants 21 were reversed 
from a pure female condition to a pure male condition, 2 were changed from 
a pure female condition to a hermaphroditic condition, and 2 were either not 
influenced or else their buds had already developed the flower incepts be- 
yond the stage at which reversal is possible. 
The inflorescences were all removed in 1920 as soon as they were out 
of the ground, and all three plots were then treated with a thick layer of 
well rotted cow manure and kept very wet until the end of June. The 
plants made an extraordinary growth, and the intention was to reverse the 
sex in the opposite direction in all three plots, i.e., from staminate to carpel- 
late, the presumption being that high nutrition or abundant water supply or 
both combined would produce such a physiological condition in the corms 
that the incipient inflorescence buds would be thrown into the female state. 
The results in the spring of 1921 were as follows: 
The 9 plants which were originally staminate and which had remained 
staminate the previous season were all reversed and carpellate, the female 
