Abstract
MELOCHIA PARVIFOLIA, H.B.K. (nova gen. et spec., pl. v., 325) is a very common plant on the dry plains in the neighbourhood of Carácas, where it flowers nearly all the year round, and not only in the month of January, as Kunth says in his description, which in all other respects is a very complete and good one. I was led to notice the heterostylism of this plant when comparing carefully Kunth's words with a specimen I had brought home. Humboldt's specimen belonged to the long-styled form, for Kunth says:—Stamina petalis dimidio breviora, Styli longitudine petalorum. Mine was short-styled, so that I found these proportions to be inverse. I searched immediately our sabanas (or plains) for long-styled plants, and came at once across a considerable number of both forms. A comparison of their flowers gives the following result:—
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ERNST, A. On the Heterostylism of “Melochia Parvifolia” . Nature 21, 217 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021217a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021217a0