) During several years I have examined many plants, but have never
found one that was really hermaphrodite. I mention this genus because the
stamens in the female flowers, although quite destitute of pollen, are but
slightly and sometimes not at all shorter than the perfect stamens in the male
flowers. In the latter the ovary is small and the pistil is almost aborted. The
filaments of the perfect stamens adhere for a greater length to the petals than
in the female flowers. The corolla of the latter is rather smaller than that of
the male. The male trees produce a greater number of flowers than the females.
Asa Gray informs me that I. opaca, which represents in the United States our
common holly, appears (judging from dried flowers) to be in a similar state; and
so it is, according to Vaucher, with several other but not with all the species
of the genus.
GYNO-DIOECIOUS PLANTS.
The plants hitherto described either show a tendency to become dioecious, or
apparently have become so within a recent period. But the species now to be
considered consist of hermaphrodites and females without males, and rarely show
any tendency to be dioecious, as far as can be judged from their present
condition and from the absence of species having separated sexes within the same
groups. Species belonging to the present class, which I have called gyno-
dioecious, are found in various widely distinct families; but are much more
common in the Labiatae (as has long been noticed by botanists) than in any other
group.
Pages:
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399