948 
Notes. 
ABNORMAL FLOWERS OF AMEL AN CHIER SPICATA.— Double flowers 
resulting from petalody of the stamens occur so often in the Rosaceae, that it is inter- 
esting to meet with a reversal of this state of things where the flowers have staminoid 
petals. Such an instance is afforded by the flowers of two small plants of Amelanchier 
spicata , Koeh., growing in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Amelanchier spicata is 
common in the Northern States of America, and is regarded by Sargent as a variety 
of Amelanchier canadensis. Like those of the latter, its petals are white, strap-shaped, 
Figs. i-8. 
or slightly obovate, varying in length from 8 to 1 2 mm. In the flowers of the plants 
growing at Kew the petals show a more or less complete infolding of their lateral 
margins. The more complete this infolding, the less the development of the petal-tip 
and the more nearly do the resulting structures resemble stamens. (Figs. 1-7 show 
a series of the abnormal petals.) 
The most petal-like of the structures are of a white colour slightly tinged with 
pink ; they are considerably smaller than normal petals. The most staminoid have 
white filaments bearing at their tips what appear to be anthers of a light brown colour, 
whilst the normal stamen has white filaments with cream-coloured versatile anthers 
(Fig. 8). 
That the resemblance is not merely superficial is shown by transverse sections of 
these structures, as well as by the fact that the more completely developed of them 
undergo dehiscence disclosing yellow pollen-grains. Some sections were kindly prepared 
by Mr. Boodle, Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory. Figs. 1 a, 3 a, 7 <2, and 8 a show 
sections corresponding respectively to Figs. 1,3, 7, and 8. In the first of these there is 
a development of the fibrous layer at one end only ; in Figs. 3# and 7 a this development 
