(8/4.
'Botanische Zeitung' 1863 page 309-28.) His paper includes also an interesting
history of our knowledge on the subject.
Viola canina.
The calyx of the cleistogamic flowers differs in no respect from that of the
perfect ones. The petals are reduced to five minute scales; the lower one, which
represents the lower lip, is considerably larger than the others, but with no
trace of the spur-like nectary; its margins are smooth, whilst those of the
other four scale-like petals are papillose. D. Muller of Upsala says that in the
specimens which he observed the petals were completely aborted. (8/5. Ibid. 1857
page 730. This paper contains the first full and satisfactory account of any
cleistogamic flower.) The stamens are very small, and only the two lower ones
are provided with anthers, which do not cohere together as in the perfect
flowers. The anthers are minute, with the two cells or loculi remarkably
distinct; they contain very little pollen in comparison with those of the
perfect flowers. The connective expands into a membranous hood-like shield which
projects above the anther-cells. These two lower stamens have no vestige of the
curious appendages which secrete nectar in the perfect flowers. The three other
stamens are destitute of anthers and have broader filaments, with their terminal
membranous expansions flatter or not so hood-like as those of the two
antheriferous stamens.
Pages:
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421