The anthers also vary much in size, but seem often to be of larger size in the short-styled flowers. My son made with the camera many drawings of the pollen-grains, and those from the short-styled flowers were in diameter in nearly the ratio of 100 to 84 to those from the long-styled flowers. I know nothing about the capacity for fertilisation in the two forms; but short-styled plants, living by themselves in the gardens at Kew, have produced an abundance of capsules, yet the seeds have never germinated; and this looks as if the short-styled form was sterile with its own pollen.
Limnanthemum Indicum (Gentianeae).
This plant is mentioned by Mr. Thwaites in his Enumeration of the Plants of Ceylon as presenting two forms; and he was so kind as to send me specimens preserved in spirits. The pistil of the long-styled form is nearly thrice as long (i.e. as 14 to 5) as that of the short-styled, and is very much thinner in the ratio of about 3 to 5. The foliaceous stigma is more expanded, and twice as large as that of the short-styled form. In the latter the stamens are about twice as long as those of the long-styled, and their anthers are larger in the ratio of 100 to 70. The pollen-grains, after having been long kept in spirits, were of the same shape and size in both forms. The ovules, according to Mr. Thwaites, are equally numerous (namely from 70 to 80) in the two forms.
Villarsia [sp.?] (Gentianeae).
Fritz Muller sent me from South Brazil dried flowers of this aquatic plant, which is closely allied to Limnanthemum. In the long-styled form the stigma stands some way above the anthers, and the whole pistil, together with the ovary, is in length to that of the short-styled form as about 3 to 2. In the latter form the anthers stand above the stigma, and the style is very short and thick; but the pistil varies a good deal in length, the stigma being either on a level with the tips of the sepals or considerably beneath them. The foliaceous stigma in the long-styled form is larger, with the expansions running farther down the style, than in the other form. One of the most remarkable differences between the two forms is that the anthers of the longer stamens in the short- styled flowers are conspicuously longer than those of the shorter stamens in the long-styled flowers. In the former the sub-triangular pollen-grains are larger; the ratio between their breadth (measured from one angle to the middle of the opposite side) and that of the grains from the long-styled flowers being about 100 to 75. Fritz Muller also informs me that the pollen of the short-styled flowers has a bluish tint, whilst that of the long-styled is yellow. When we treat of Lythrum salicaria we shall find a strongly marked contrast in the colour of the pollen in two of the forms.
The three genera, Menyanthes, Limnanthemum, and Villarsia, now described, constitute a well-marked sub-tribe of the Gentianeae. All the species, as far as at present known, are heterostyled, and all inhabit aquatic or sub-aquatic stations.
Forsythia suspensa (Oleaceae).
Professor Asa Gray states that the plants of this species growing in the Botanic Gardens at Cambridge, U.S., are short-styled, but that Siebold and Zuccarini describe the long-styled form, and give figures of two forms; so that there can be little doubt, as he remarks, about the plant being dimorphic. (3/16. 'The American Naturalist' July 1873 page 422.) I therefore applied to Dr. Hooker, who sent me a dried flower from Japan, another from China, and another from the Botanic Gardens at Kew. The first proved to be long-styled, and the other two short-styled. In the long-styled form, the pistil is in length to that of the short-styled as 100 to 38, the lobes of the stigma being a little longer (as 10 to 9), but narrower and less divergent. This last character, however, may be only a temporary one. There seems to be no difference in the papillose condition of the two stigmas. In the short-styled form, the stamens are in length to those of the long-styled as 100 to 66, but the anthers are shorter in the ratio of 87 to 100; and this is unusual, for when there is any difference in size between the anthers of the two forms, those from the longer stamens of the short-styled are generally the longest.