The Bulletin 
31 
When perfect hermaphrodite vines become as plentiful as the stami- 
nate vines, then by virtue of a wider choice we can expect to find flower 
clusters on such vines equally as large as those on any staminate vine. 
Selected perfect hermaphrodite seedlings now in our jmssession doubtless 
will produce flower clusters equally as large as those that were observed 
on the staminate vine, but the average flower clusters on the average 
perfect hermaphrodite vines are about the same in size as those on 
similar staminate vines. 
VII. The Probable Origin of the Hope Vine 
By comparing descriptions of Hope with that of any staminate vine, 
one can readily see that the two have many things in common. Both 
vines produce pollen which, when mixed, cannot, by aid of the micro¬ 
scope alone, be distinguished as being the product from two different 
vines (Plate III, Figs. 1 and 3, and Plate IV, Figs. 1, 2, and 3) ; the 
pollen of both is viable and will germinate in sugar solutions; both pro¬ 
duce upright stamens of identical size, shape, and appearance (see Figs. 
3 and 7) ; and both produce large flower clusters typical of the staminate 
vines. The only point of difference lies in the fact that the Hope flow¬ 
ers possess functioning pistils which are not found in any staminate vine. 
The seedlings of any hermaphrodite variety that has the reflexed type 
of stamen, when crossed with Hope as the male parent, are always 
hermaphrodite vines, but of two kinds: (1) those that bear the upright 
stamens, and (2) those that bear the reflexed stamens (see Figs. 8 and 
9). These types occur in the expected ratio of 1:1, just as those whose 
male parent is a normal staminate vine. These perfect flowered seed¬ 
ling vines with upright stamens also come to maturity earlier than do 
those with the reflexed stamens, just as do normal staminate seedlings 
(see Table FTo. 4). The whole appearance and behavior of the Hope 
vine, and of its perfect flowered seedlings, with the exception of the 
regenerated and functioning pistils (Plate I, Figs. 2, 4, and 6), is that 
of a normal staminate vine. 
Again, some of the flowers on the Hope vine and some on its perfect 
flowered progeny have been observed to be more or less intermediate 
between perfect hermaphrodite flowers and staminate flowers (Plate II, 
Figs. 4-9). Some of the pistils were dwarfed, some rudimentary, and 
some few were suppressed entirely (see Fig. 14), as is the case of stam¬ 
inate flowers. Such flowers were found to occur more abundantly on 
some vines than on others, but usually in all cases they were found on 
the lower and more poorly nourished branches of the vine. 
All of this evidence points strongly toward the assumption that this 
Hope vine was primarily a staminate vine, with a staminate constitu¬ 
tion, but one which from some unknown cause has undergone a partial 
regeneration of its pistils, some of which are able to function. 
When flowers on manv staminate vines are examined, it will he 
observed that there exists much variation in the size of the suppressed 
