[66]

April 29th 1879 Lonicera brachypoda

(Before N.E window darkened in all sides end of shoot with 2 △.)

Left Hand Shoot — Black Further Older & Longer Right-Hand Shot

Red Shorter Shoot

[data not transcribed]

(I must look up old M.S of Climbing Plants for point very important)

[66v]

295

Ch VII

maphrodite may change and appar apparently is now changing into a diœcious species is a curious & interesting spectacle phenomenon.* a

(Seeing how general it is for organs which are almost or quite functionless to be reduced in size, it is remarkable that the pistils of the polleniferous plants should equal that in length those of the highly fertile female plants, or even exceed them, in length. This latter fact formerly led me to suppose that the spindle-tree was had once been heterostyled; the pe hermaphrodite & male flowers plants having been originally long-styled, with the pistils since reduced in length, but with the stamens retaining their former dimensions; I further supposed that whilst the female flowers were plants had been originally short-styled with the pistil in its present state, but with the stamens since greatly reduced & rendered rudimentary. Such a conversion is at least possible, although of a it is the reverse kind compared with of that which appears actually to have occurred with some Rubiaceous genera & Ægiphila; for whi with these plants the sh short-styled form has become

[Forms of flowers, p. 292: "This case appears to me very interesting, as showing how gradually an hermaphrodite plant may be converted into a diœcious one.*
Seeing how general it is for organs which are almost or quite functionless to be reduced in size, it is remarkable that the pistils of the polleniferous plants should equal or even exceed in length those of the highly fertile female plants. This fact formerly led me to suppose that the spindle-tree had once been heterostyled; the hermaphrodite and male plants having been originally long-styled, with the pistils since reduced in length, but with the stamens retaining their former dimensions; whilst the female plant had been originally short-styled, with the pistil in its present state, but with the stamens since greatly reduced and rendered rudimentary. A conversion of this kind is at least possible, although it is the reverse of that which appears actually to have occurred with some Rubiaceous genera and Ægiphila; for with these plants the short-styled form has become the male, and the long-styled the female.
* According to Fritz Müller ('Bot. Zeitung,' 1870, p. 151), a Chamissoa (Amaranthaceæ) in Southern Brazil is in nearly the same state as our Euonymus. The ovules are equally developed in the two forms. In the female the pistil is perfect, whilst the anthers are entirely destitute of pollen. In the polleniferous form, the pistil is short and the stigmas never separate from one another, so that, although their surfaces are covered with fairly well-developed papillæ, they cannot be fertilised. These latter plants do not commonly yield any fruit, and are therefore in function males. Nevertheless, on one occasion Fritz Müller found flowers of this kind in which the stigmas had separated, and they produced some fruit."]