Robert Brown remarks that "the order of
reduction or abortion of the stamina in any natural family may with some
confidence be predicted," by observing in other members of the family, in which
their number is complete, the order of the dehiscence of the anthers (7/3.
'Transactions of the Linnean Society' volume 12 page 98 or 'Miscellaneous Works'
volume 2 pages 278-81.); for the lesser permanence of an organ is generally
connected with its lesser perfection, and he judges of perfection by priority of
development. He also states that whenever there is a separation of the sexes in
an hermaphrodite plant, which bears flowers on a simple spike, it is the females
which expand first; and this he likewise attributes to the female sex being the
more perfect of the two, but why the female should be thus valued he does not
explain.
Plants under cultivation or changed conditions of life frequently become
sterile; and the male organs are much oftener affected than the female, though
the latter alone are sometimes affected. The sterility of the stamens is
generally accompanied by a reduction in their size; and we may feel sure, from a
wide-spread analogy, that both the male and female organs would become
rudimentary in the course of many generations if they failed altogether to
perform their proper functions. According to Gartner, if the anthers on a plant
are contabescent (and when this occurs it is always at a very early period of
growth) the female organs are sometimes precociously developed.
Pages:
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381