DR. JDICKIE ON YEaET4.BLE MOKSTBOSIXIES, 183 



. The Coiximon Wallflower was long since observed by Mr. Brown. 

 as sometimes showing the change in question. An example 

 having come under notice some time ago, a brief account, illus- 

 trated by specimens, may be worthy of record. The plant had 

 attained considerable size, a large bush in fact, and the perianth 

 had dropped in all excepting a few flowers, in these the two outer 

 whorls appeared to be quite natural. The six stamens were en- 

 tirely changed into a compound ovary, the edges of each piece 

 entirely adherent and concealing the ordinary seed-vessel ; in ad- 

 vanced stages this body gave way at the apex, opening on two 

 sides, between the parts representing the long stamens, thus 

 allowing the true ovary to protrude. The change in the staminal 

 whorl may be shortly described as follows: — the place of the 

 stamens was occupied by a body resembling an oblong capsule of 

 SIX valves, adherent together, the edges infolded ; these six 

 pieces being easily separable, four of them evidently corresponded 

 to the four long stamens, and two to the shorter ; the latter pieces 

 were more convex than the others, their stigmas shorter, and they 

 were placed on opposite sides of the axis. Each had two rows of 

 ovules attached to the infolded margins, and the whole might be 

 compared to the capsule of a poppy having twelve rows of ovules 

 on as many projecting parietal placentae. The ovules examined 

 were composed apparently of a uniform mass of cellular tissue, 

 corresponding probably to nucleus, and each supported by a cord 

 several times longer than the ovule. In some cases this singular 

 • ovary attained considerable size, entirely concealing the true 

 ovary, in others it appeared to stop at an early stage, the proper 

 seed-vessel projecting considerably beyond it ; there was, in fact, 

 an inverse relation in their respective lengths. This enlargement 

 of the normal ovary was of course independent of fecundation f on 

 examination it was found generally to have the ordinary struc- 

 ture, the ovules having, however, the same characters as those of 

 the abnormal ovary; in others, the replum was absent, and from 

 the base, and apparently continuous with the axis, there grew 

 another ovary, much smaller and more like a leaf 



PxAJfTAaO MAJOfi. 



I have had in cultivation for some time, a form of this common 

 plant which has the following peculiarities : — The entire plant is 

 far more luxuriant than usual, most of the bracts are large, in 

 some the length is about 4 inches, in them the spike is usually 

 very much shortened, and most of the flowers abortive, but in 



