2 BULLETIN 971, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
While the pistillate inflorescence is entirely branched, none of the 
other characteristics of a normal ear are altered. The glumes are 
membranaceous and inconspicuous, the spikelets are paired and prac- 
tically sessile, one flower only is developed in each spikelet, and there 
is no indication of the development of stamens. The branches bear 
four rows of spikelets, being similar in this respect to the branches 
of a tassel. The ramose ear, therefore, may be considered as a rever- 
sion to a more primitive type in only the one character of branching. 
Accompanying the ramose pistillate inflorescence is an almost 
equally striking alteration in the form of the staminate inflorescence. 
(See PI. XIII.) In normal maize the tassel has a few branches at 
the base and terminates in a single upright spike bearing four or 
more rows of paired spikelets. This terminal spike usually exceeds 
half the length of the entire inflorescence, and in some varieties its 
relative length is much greater. The transition from branches to a 
single central spike is abrupt, the upper and lower branches being 
of nearly the same length. In the ramose type of tassel the branch- 
ing is continuous, extending from the base to within a few centi- 
meters of the apex, leaving a very short central spike, while the 
total number of branches in extreme cases exceeds 400. These 
branches decrease gradually in length until they consist of but three 
or four spikelets on rather elongated pedicels, with an almost im- 
perceptible transition from branches to pairs of spikelets. 
As with the ramose ear, the tassels with their large number of 
branches produce a far larger number of spikelets than the tassels 
of commercial varieties, and also a greater amount of pollen. The 
whole tassel has a distinct conical shape quite unlike that of the 
normal form. 
Since the ear of the Eamosa variety is branched in a manner 
similar to the tassel, with an absence of a predominating central 
spike, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the differentiation 
of the sexes in maize occurred before the loss of the lateral branches, 
and the central spike of the tassel may be assumed to have developed 
simultaneously with the single-spiked ear. 
While the ramose type of inflorescence has been found to segre- 
gate as a unit in crosses with the normal form (1), no evidence has 
been presented to show whether this seemingly simple Mendelian 
character has suffered any alteration as a result of such hybridiza- 
tion and, further, whether the normal plants segregating from 
ramose hybrids have undergone changes in the structure of the 
inflorescence. 
The opportunity to measure the effect of hybridization on Men- 
delian characters is unique in Ramosa X normal crosses. The ramose 
variation is larg«, affecting both staminate and pistillate inflores- 
