Staminody in Digitalis purpurea L.

Although staminody i. e. the appearance of stamens in places normally occupied by other parts of the flower, and even in extrafloral organs, is of not so very rare occurrence and has in itself no special significance, the present case of the said phenomenon in the Foxglove is of such a striking interest as to justify a detailed description: 1st because the deviation has been observed, although in unequal degrees, almost simultaneously, in three different places of our country, in the summer of this year, and as far I know, for the first time. 21y because the abnormal structure is likely to throw some light on the ancestors of the Scrophulariaceae and consequently upon the relation between Eichler’s Haplostemones and Diplostemones, the former possessing only one row of stamens, whereas the latter group shows both an inner and an outer series of the said organs. It should be remembered for a right understanding of the following facts 1° that the zygomorphous corolla of Digitalis purpurea consists — apart from the tube — of a rather short upperlip and a protruding underlip with a narrowed top, 2° that the four stamens, although inserted on the corolla, are antisepalous, 3“ that according to the majority the of Scrophulariaceae, the upper stamen, has disappeared, 4° that the inner stamens are altogether absent.