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June 5 (64) Euonumus Europæus

(see to Asa Gray)

The sterile male plants with perfect stamens, have longer pistil than the female plants & I think, in accordance with usual rule, a slightly longer? see next Page corolla.—

The female plant have short pistil & very short stamen, with perfect anthers, which partially dehisce but have no pollen.—

Jun 6th In male plants with long & good stamens, just before anther dehisce, stigma continues to grow which is odd as pistil here is aborted.

I the female plant with short rudimentary stamens, the pistil also continues to grow.—

over

[1v]

male fl [sketch] female [sketch] —aborted & so greatly reduced from original leng[th]

aboriginal (male) dimorphic [sketch] long-styled

aboriginal female [sketch] short-styled

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(corolla of Female plant containing largest.) female has aborted

[In the hand of Emma Darwin:] Comparing flowers of male plants with good stamens just before these dehisce with female flowers whilst the rudimentary anthers are pink & not shrivelled the pistils in the 2 forms are of equal length; if there is any difference the semi-sterile pistils of the male flowers are the longest which is very strange. I compared 5 & 5 flowers from 10 trees. The comparison is difficult on acct of continued growth of pistil. Hence I took above definite period of maturity.— When I saw the well-developed pistil of the male plants & saw that the pistil continued to grow & saw the ovules well developed I did not doubt it wd produce seed, but we know the result. From general analogy we may believe that the pistil when fertile must have been longer & it is remarkable

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Euonymus 64

that (I found one male tree with an extra long pistil & this did produce a very few seeds. There cd have been no imagination about here for I knew nothing about the seeding when I marked the trees. From this latter case & from great size of the pistil in the male plants we may suspect that this form was lately an hermaphrodite co'existing with a female exactly as with Thyme.

I conclude that stamens of male & pistil of female flowers return their primordial & equal length; but that pistil of male & stamen of female (which are now both rudimentary) have been reduced: the stamens [illeg] & most reduced.—

p 4

June 7 1864

The plant which last year only produced 24 seed & which ought to have been marked with 3 strings differs in no way from other male plants I suppose I examined many of the much grown pistils.

The plant marked with 3 strings is again the same but on several trusses the pistil much exceeded in length the unopened anthers & this I never saw on a female plant.

(imperf)

The male plants of course always have pollen at hand; so their sterility very striking— Female plant might be sterile for want of pollen

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Gain facts first & then speculation worth giving as in the few books I have I can find no account. The acutest botanist wd not have suspected that the male flower was not an hermaphrodite. I have looked at Sir J. E. Smith, Asa Gray says allied genus Glastrus? is polygamus diccious.