Antirrhinum

“ Change of direction, as has been already mentioned, is one of the most common of these; separation of the petals (Antirrhinum, Verbascum, &c.) , and even their appearance in leaf-like guise, are not infrequent (Delphinium, Antirrhinum, Verbascum, &c.) At other times multiplication or increased number of the whorls of petals takes place, often, but not always, at the expense of the sexual organs of the flower. Perhaps even more frequent is the increased number of parts in the same whorl in cases of regular peloria ”

“ Such accidents are frequent in various species of Antirrhinum and Bignonia. They should be kept in mind by all students of systematical arrangement, as a warning not to expect that our artificial rules can keep pace with the intricacies of nature. ”

“ Thus in the snapdragon (antirrhinum) we generally do not find a rudiment of a fifth stamen; but this may sometimes be seen. In tracing the homologies of the same part in different members of a class, nothing is more common, or more necessary, than the use and discovery of rudiments. This is well shown in the drawings given by Owen of the bones of the leg of the horse, ox, and rhinoceros. ”

“ But the case is different with the fifth stamen in the peloric Antirrhinum, which is produced by the redevelopment of a rudiment always present, and which probably reveals to us the state of the flower, as far as the stamens are concerned, at some ancient epoch. ”

“ It is an old-fashioned garden perennial of easy cultivation. Antirrhinum majus, sown in heat, and forwarded until the general time for planting out, becomes a summer annual, and may be so treated; but under a slower and more hardy regime it may be sown in boxes in August, and pricked off into other boxes and wintered in a frame. ”

“ A common protective device is for a flower to place its nectar at the bottom of a long, narrow tube only accessible to a flying insect having a proboscis. In the Antirrhinum the entrance to the flower is closed to small crawlers by a very heavy corolla. Bees, because of their size and strength, can force their way through. It is said that as soon as the stigma of this flower has been fertilized, the corolla relaxes and Ants and their kind are free to enter and partake of such dainties as are left. ”

“ In the peloric form of Antirrhinum majus, appropriately called the "Wonder," the tubular and elongated flowers differ wonderfully from those of the common snapdragon; the calyx and the mouth of the corolla consist of six equal lobes, and include six equal instead of four unequal stamens. One of the two additional stamens is manifestly formed by the development of a microscopically minute papilla, which may be found at the base of the upper lip of the flower in all common snapdragons, at least in nineteen plants examined by me. ”

“ Elegant little half-hardy biennials or perennials allied to Antirrhinum. Flowers small, drooping, in long spike-formed, twiggy, and interrupted racemes. Radical leaves usually in a rosette; stem and branch leaves palmate-parted, or toothed at the apex; superior ones quite entire. They are of easy culture in ordinary garden soil; seed may be sown outside in spring, or they can be increased by growing cuttings, but they require protection during severe weather. ”

“ Each should include a number of individuals large enough to allow the determination of the proportion of the different types among the offspring of a single plant. A species which is easily fertilized by its own pollen, and which bears capsules with [315] large quantities of seeds, obviously affords the best opportunities. As such, I have chosen the common snapdragon of the gardens, Antirrhinum majus. It has many striped varieties, some tall, others of middle height, or of dwarfed stature. ”

“ The closed flowers of Linaria and Antirrhinum can be visited only by insects which are strong enough to separate the lips. In Euphrasia and others the pollen is loose and powdery, and the anthers have appendages which when touched by the head of the insect-visitor cause the pollen to be scattered. ”

“ That both simple molecules and larger particles of different form, and equally capable of motion, do exist in these parts, before the application of the pollen to the stigma can possibly take place, in many of the plants submitted by him to examination, may easily be ascertained; particularly in Antirrhinum majus, of which he has given a figure in a more advanced state, representing these molecules or particles, which he supposes to have been derived from the grains of pollen, adhering to the stigma. ”

“ Lastly, with respect to peloric flowers, which depart wonderfully from the natural structure,—those of Linaria vulgaris seem generally to be more or less sterile, whilst those before described of Antirrhinum majus, when artificially fertilised with their own pollen, are perfectly fertile, though sterile when left to themselves, for bees are unable to crawl into the narrow tubular flower. The peloric flowers of Corydalis solida, according to Godron, [95] are sometimes barren and sometimes fertile; whilst those of Gloxinia are well known to yield plenty of seed. ”

“ With flowers which have regular corollas, all the petals generally vary in the same manner, as we see in the complicated and symmetrical pattern, on the flowers, for instance, of the Chinese pink; but with irregular flowers, though the petals are of course homologous, this symmetry often fails, as with the varieties of the Antirrhinum or snapdragon, or that variety of the kidney-bean (Phaseolus) which has a white standard-petal. ”

“ The Following Annuals Should be Sown in the Seed-bed
About April Twentieth to May First
Antirrhinum, or Snapdragon, growing eighteen inches high. If sown in early May they will bloom from August until late autumn. The same is true of the German Ten-weeks Stocks, which have a long period of bloom. The white ones are most lovely.
Asters, all varieties; sow a quantity. They are not only beautiful, but they give an abundance of blossoms in late September and early October, when flowers are beginning to be scarce. I prefer the Giant, Comet, Ostrich Plume and the late-flowering branching kind. ”

“ If a succession of flowers is desired, no seed should be allowed to form. Protect in winter with a mulch of leaves, evergreen boughs, or corn-stalks, as high—or higher—than the plants, or they may be pegged down and covered with evergreen boughs, or boards to shed the rain. Thus protected they will live through the winter and bloom heavily the following summer. Occasionally in favoured locations they will live through the winter unprotected, but this cannot be depended upon.
Antirrhinums are not particular as to soil or situation, provided they have plenty of water ”

“ I have in my possession a leaf of Antirrhinum majus, and also a specimen of Pelargonium, wherein the blade of the leaf is funnel-like, and the petiole is cylindrical, not compressed, and grooved on the upper surface, as is usually the case. A comparison of the leaves of Pelargonium peltatum with those of P. cucullatum ('Cav. [Pg 23] Diss.,' tab., 106) will show how easy the passage is from a peltate to a tubular leaf. In these cases the tubular form may rather be due to dilatation than to cohesion. ”

“ The fact that the plant possesses such sturdy independence of character greatly enhances its value and usefulness. Nothing more handsome can be imagined in a border than the gigantic spikes of the Tall varieties, and they make a magnificent decoration for vases at a season when flowers suitable for cutting are much needed. The Intermediate Antirrhinums, like the Tall class, combine advantages for both bedding purposes and for cutting, perhaps in a still greater degree. ”

“ ANTIRRHINUM CAPSULE, with Persistent Style.
FIG. 114. ANTIRRHINUM ASARINA, showing Habit and Flower.
ANTIRRHINUM (from anti, like, and rhin, a nose or snout; alluding to the shape of the corolla) . Snapdragon. ORD. Scrophulariaceæ. ”

“ Seed should be started early in hotbed or flats. Merely press it into the soil and cover with a paper until the plants appear, which should be in from eight to ten days. Transplant into rich soil where the plants are to remain, setting one foot apart each way. They are effective in rows with some taller plant, or vine, for a background. The tall, showy spikes are most striking against a background of green. The Antirrhinum is a half-hardy perennial, blooming the first season if seed is started early enough, and hardy 99at the North with good protection in winter. ”

“ Sweet-peas must on no account be permitted to seed unless grown for the purpose. Seed may be gathered from the Thunbergia, Maurandya, Adlumia, common Morning-glory and Hollyhock without risk of deterioration or harm to the vine. Antirrhinums suffer severely from seed-bearing, while the Ricinus, Lantanas and Salvias may be allowed to seed freely. Ageratums look rusty when ripening seed, and it pays to go over them frequently with the shears; this will keep them fresh and full 47of bloom until frost. One flower-head will furnish all the seed one is likely to want. ”

“ Hybrids of Phalaenopsis are few as yet. Here is Hebe, the product of rosea × Sanderiana, rosy white of sepal and petal, bright pink of lip, yellow at the base.
On the left is a ‘rockery’ of tufa, planted with the hybrid Anthuriums which Messrs. Sander have been producing so industriously of late years. To my mind, an infant could make flowers as good as Anthuriums, if equipped with a sufficient quantity of sealing-wax, red and pink and white. Their form is clumsy, and grace they have none. But when they recognise a fashion, the wise cease to protest. Anthuriums are the fashion. ”

“ As we have shown in the Bugle, the anther and stigma occupy the arch of the upper lip. As a rule the ripe anthers first occupy the foremost position, so that if a bee alights on the lower lip and pushes into the corolla for the honey his hairy back will brush off the pollen from the anthers. After the honey is shed the stigmas come forward and occupy the former position of the anthers. Should a bee that has got dusted with pollen at an earlier flower now pay a visit the stigmas will collect some pollen from his back and the ovules become fertilized. ”

“ The freshly opened blossom discloses the entire ring of anthers in perfect equilibrium, each with its two orifices closed by close contact with the style, thus retaining the pollen. It will readily be seen that an insect's tongue, as indicated by the needle, in probing between them in search for nectar, must needs dislocate one or more of the anthers, and thus release their dusty contents, while the position of the stigma below is such as to escape all contact. ”

“ There are several kinds of Anthericum, rather small, lily-like plants, with grasslike leaves, springing from the base and surrounded by the fibrous remnants of older leaves. The slender stems are leafless, or have one, very small, dry leaf; the roots thick and fleshy-fibrous; the flowers yellow, on pedicels jointed near the middle; the style long and slender; the pod oblong, containing several flattened, angular seeds in each cell. They are common in rocky soil, at altitudes of six thousand to nine thousand feet, from western Texas to Arizona. ”

“ After the anthers have shed their pollen and become effete, the stigma matures, and occupies their place. By this time the flower presents a wider entrance, and as the moisture-loving plant keeps the nectaries abundantly filled, what is to prevent insects too small to come in contact with anthers and stigma in the roof from pilfering to their heart's content? The woolly throat discourages many, to be sure ”

“ I will describe as examples the reproduction of a moss, a fern, and a dicotyledon.
In such a typical moss as Funaria, we have the following cycle of developments: The sexual generation is a dioecious leafy structure, having a central elongated axis, with leaves arranged regularly around and along it. At the top of the axis in the male plant rise the antheridia, surrounded by an envelope of modified leaves called the perigonium. The antheridia are stalked sacs, with a single wall of cells, and the spiral antherozoids arise by free-cell formation from the cells of the interior. ”

“ The term “colony” is, perhaps, inappropriate, as the whole mass of cells arises from a single one, and may properly be looked upon as an individual plant.
[3] Algæ (sing. alga) .
[4] “Host,” the plant or animal upon which a parasite lives.
[5] The antheridia, when present, arise as branches just below the oögonium, and become closely applied to it, sometimes sending tubes through its wall, but there has been no satisfactory demonstration of an actual transfer of the contents of the antheridium to the egg cell. ”

“ One "generation," the "sexual," consists of a tiny, green, plate-like object, termed the [Pg 34] prothallium (Fig. 8) . This is connected with the soil by hair-like roots. On its lower surface are borne usually both the reproductive organs of the fern, the antheridia, corresponding to the stamens or fertilizing organs of the flower, and the archegonia, performing the office of the flower's pistils, inasmuch as their germ-cells receive the fertilizing substance produced by the antheridia. But no seeds are formed as the result of this fertilization. ”

“ ANEMONE Hepatica. HEPATICA. The Leaves.—It is a cooling gently restringent herb; and hence recommended in a lax state of the fibres as a corroborant.
302. ANTIRRHINIUM Elatine. FLUELLIN. The Root, Bark, and Leaves.—They were formerly accounted excellent vulneraries, and of great use for cleansing and healing old ulcers and cancerous sores: some have recommended them internally in leprous and scrophulous disorders; as also in hydropic cases.
303. ANTIRRHINIUM Linaria. TOAD FLAX. The Flowers.—An infusion of them is said to be very efficacious in cutaneous disorders ”