, 1909-12-18

INTO a dry fruit having in the smaller flower
three and sometimes four corners, in the largsr
flower four and sometimes five corners, in
all cases meeting III a point at the TOP.
When dry it is i'll both cases pale brown. hut
when young the oyary, aud the th ee or TO lr
styles which surnouuJ it, are yellow in the
smaller flower, broWnisi red in the larger.
The stignas at the ends of the several STYLES
ale little curved bodice, the form somewhat
resembling that Of II horse shoe. In both
flowers the styles are half erect ut first. but
later curve downwards around the oyary.
The honey IN the open II -ctary ma easily be
tasted at any time, and the bee that comes
for it brings his head over the anthers and
stigmas and thus transfers the pollen.
The young student who will take the
trouble to follow out the above with the
living flowers before HIM will have had q
good lesson in the tirst-rousinship that ex-
lists among certain plants. Now for a few
words about rem tie cousinship.
When the writer was in the States q
couple Of years back he saw, among many
other interesting wild plants, a rather tall
weed* crowded with small flowers that
after q very distant fashion resembled those
Just considered. They were small and green,
each OF three outer divisions Of the ca
lyx being u triangle with u curious lump
on the outside, Il lump which Asa Gray
calls "a gram, the purpose of which
the present writer could not guess.
The shape of the small fruit was exactly
like that Of the smaller Mexican wreath, and
the relationship was plain, though very re-
mote.
The buckwheotf, so largely used as food
IN the States, is another remote cousin Of our
two beautiful foreigners. and in this conpec-
ton 1t is worth noting that II We break
open the dry ripe fruit of either Of our two
plants we shall find hem full of a meely
substance, (the albumen) which is intended
doubtless for nourishing the young plnnt
when 1t begins TO grow. The natural uso
of the flour III the buckwhent is no doubt
the same, but Man has laid his hands on it.
and, as IN 50 many other cases, has appro-
prlated It to his own use.
But without leaving bome we NAV find
some excellent examples Of remote cousin
SNIP To our two plants, III the sea side grapet
and It's near relatives. Who would suppose
that there could be any relationship, even ~
remote cousins, between the graceful climb
ing Mexican wreath and the stout stiff sea-
side grape tree? But such there Is. Read
es who have noticed the towering of the
seaside grape will have observed that the
flowers grow on long hanging stalks and that
they are white and very small. When we exam
lne them carefully we find the same calvx Of
five parts, and the same stamens (ten or there
abouts)united below, as in The Mexican w,eatba.
The oyary, however,does not grow into q dry
fruit like that of the Mexican wreaths, but
" very remarkable thing happens the calvx
closes up round the ovary, grows with it and
gr01cS TO II, so that the oyary and calyx ul-
tlmately form one fruit, first green, then pur-
Pile as it ripens. When we compare this
case with that of the pigeon-berry, dealt
with IN a former article, we see q striking
difference. In the case of the pigeon.berrv
we found that we could run our penknife
around the fruit and remove the calyx quite
easily. 1t had grown, had become Aeehy and
Juicy, but was still Independent. It had
entered into a close alliance with the ovary-
but WAS not united to it ;but in the case OF the
seaside grape there has been an actual union
OF the two parts in one. Truly nt.ure loves
variety. Several other trees, first cousins of
the seaside grape, flower and fruit in a SINH
lar manner.
What family is it that embraces all these
cousins near and remote ? AsuGray calls it the
Buck-wbeat Family as we'll as bv it's botan-
zeal name yCropoono % -a-