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This striking feature, however, does not exist in the "Nepaul-barley." The awns are replaced by curiously shaped appendices, which are three-lobed. The central lobe is oblong and hollow, and forms a kind of hood, which covers a small supernumerary floret. The two lateral lobes are narrower, often linear and extended into a smaller or longer awn.
One instance however, is very remarkable, and we have already dealt with it, when treating of constant varieties, and of the lack of vicinism in the case of species with exclusive self-fertilization. It is the "Nepaul-barley" or Hordeum trifurcatum.
But if we once grant the probability of the origin of the "Nepaul-barley" by a sudden mutation, we obviously must assume the same in the case of the Helwingia and other normal instances. In this way we gain a further support for our assertion, that even the strangest specific characters may have arisen suddenly.
In the normal flowers of barley and other grains and grasses their function is to open the flowers by swelling, and afterwards collapse and allow them to close. In the adventitious flowers of the "Nepaul-barley," however, this function is quite superfluous. The stamens occur in varying numbers; typically there are three, but not rarely less, or more, are seen.
If not then we may expect to find the cultures and seeds pure, irrespective of the distances between allied varieties, as for instance with peas, which are known to be self-fertilizing. Another instance is given by the barley. One of the most curious anomalous varieties of this cereal, is the "Nepaul-barley," with its small adventitious flowers on the palets or inner scales.
The character is variable to a high degree, and this fact indicates its varietal nature, though it should be recalled that at least with the Helwingia, the majority of the leaves are destitute of flowers, and that in this way some degree of variability is present in this normal case too. All in all there are three sorts of "Nepaul-barley."
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