METAMORPHOSIS OF THE FLOWER. 



Ill 



Can these be of one and the same element ? Look again. Here 

 is a doable flower, a Poppy of the gardens, artificially devel- 

 oped ; its slender white stamens have indeed expanded into 

 broad red petals ! 



333. The argument begins with the sepals. In the Rose and 

 Ptcony, and in most flowers, the sepals have all the character- 

 istics of leaves color, form, venation, etc. The transition from 

 leaves to bracts and from bracts to sepals is so gradual as to 

 place their identity beyond doubt. Again, in Calicanthus, the 

 sepals pass by insensible gradations into petals ; and in the 

 Lilies these two organs are almost identical. Hence, if the se- 



407 



405 



404 



*04, Papaver (poppy) ., stamens: p, stiffmas. 405, Sepal. 406, Petal -all very different. 407, Petala 

 ol' the Water-lily (Nymphaaa) gradually passing into stamens. 



pals are leaves, t he petals are leaves also. In respect to the na- 

 ture of the stamens, the Water-lily is particularly instructive. 

 Hero we see a perfect gradation of forms from stamens to petals, 

 and thence to sepals, where, half-way between the two former, 

 we find a narrow petal tipped with the semblance of an anther 

 (410). Finally, cases of close resemblance between stamen and 

 pistil, so unlike in the Poppy, are not wanting. For example, 

 the Tulip-tree. 



334. Teratology. Cases in ARTIFICIAL DEVELOPMENT where organs of one kind aie 

 converted into those of another kind by cultivation, afford undeniable evidence of the 

 doctrine in question the homology of all the floral organs with each other and with the 

 t*.nf Such cases are frequent in the garden, and, however much admired, they are mon- 

 ftr<yi.*, because unnatural. In all double flowers, as Hose. P;eony, Camellia, the stamens 

 have been reconverted into petals, either wholly or partially, some yet remaining in 

 every conceivable stage of the transition. In the double Butter-cup (416) the pistils as 

 well as stamens revert to petals, and in the garden Cherry, Flowering Almond, a pair of 

 green leaves occupy the place of the pistils. By still further changes all parts of the 

 flower manifest their foliage affinities, and the entire flower-bud, after having given clear 

 indications of its floral character, is at la^t developed into a leafy branch (417). Further 

 evidence of this view will appear in the.--- 



