As the term has been adopted by writers in various countries, I am
unwilling to change it for that of heterogone or heterogonous, though this has
been proposed by so high an authority as Professor Asa Gray: see the 'American
Naturalist' January 1877 page 42.) As I have many still unpublished observations
with respect to these plants, it has seemed to me advisable to republish my
former papers in a connected and corrected form, together with the new matter.
It will be shown that these heterostyled plants are adapted for reciprocal
fertilisation; so that the two or three forms, though all are hermaphrodites,
are related to one another almost like the males and females of ordinary
unisexual animals. I will also give a full abstract of such observations as have
been published since the appearance of my papers; but only those cases will be
noticed, with respect to which the evidence seems fairly satisfactory. Some
plants have been supposed to be heterostyled merely from their pistils and
stamens varying greatly in length, and I have been myself more than once thus
deceived. With some species the pistil continues growing for a long time, so
that if old and young flowers are compared they might be thought to be
heterostyled. Again, a species tending to become dioecious, with the stamens
reduced in some individuals and with the pistils in others, often presents a
deceptive appearance.
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