[Prolification1 in Spermacoce. — Dr. Masters showed a drawing of a specimen of Spermacoce sp. from Port Darwin, and which he had received from Baron Müller, in which the flowers were the subject of median prolification. The flower-tube, sepals, and corolla were normal, the stamens sometimes normal, or more or less atrophied or leaf-like. The ovary in all the specimens examined was destitute of ovules, in other cases it was replaced by two narrow leaves, from between which sprang a branch bearing opposite leaves. This branch in other specimens divided in a cymose manner, the sub-divisions bearing leaves and imperfect flowers.]
Spermacoce
'The production of terminal or lateral leaf-buds in a flower' (B. Jackson (1905)).
Letter not found. The text given here is from a report of a meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society held on 14 December 1880, Gardeners' chronicle, 18 December 1880, p. 795. It is dated to October as the latest likely date that it could have been sent to have been reported at this meeting of the committee. Maxell Masters had a special interest in distortions in flowers (see Masters (1869)), and the specimen may have been sent directly to him.
Please cite as “FVM-80-10-00b,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on