THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF THE NUMBER OF STAMENS AND PISTILS IN THE FLOWERS OFFICARIA

Abstract

A survey of the rapidly increasing literature must convince anyone that the problem of the factors which determine the sex of the organism is one of such complexity that it cannot be solved on the basis of any one kind of material or by any one method of research. In the flowering plants the same individual may produce both eggs and sperm. The relative numbers of egg and sperm producing organs may vary from individual to individual, or from flower to flower within the individual. It is reasonable to assume that definite genetic, morphogenetic or physiological factors underlie these variations. Any successful attempt to determine these factors and to measure their influence is just as truly a contribution to the wide problem of the physiology of sex as the more conventional breeding experiments and studies on the morphology of the germ cells. The purpose of this paper is to point out certain hitherto unrecognized relationships between the number of sporophylls in the flower of the ranunculaceous genus Ficaria. Heretofore those who have investigated the problem of the relationship between the number of stamens and pistils in the flower have been content to merely determine the correlation between the number of the two kinds of spore-bearing organs. Positive correlations of this kind should arise as the resultant of any sets of environmental factors which tend to increase both the number of stamens and the number of pistils in certain of the plants or individual flowers and to limit the number of both of these organs in others. Morphogenetically and physiologically it seems of far greater importance to inquire whether the relative