200 THE FLOWER. 



366. The case of stamens in a cluster before the petals is a 

 complication of cither of the foregoing with a peculiar kind of 

 multiplication, termed deduplication or chorisis. (372.) 



7. INCREASED NUMBER OF PARTS. 



367. Augmentation in the number of floral members' is one 

 of the commonest modifications of the type. It occurs in two 

 ways : 1st. by an increased number of circle* or turns of spirals 

 in the flower, which is Regular M/ilti/>lic<itinn ; :M. by the pro- 

 duction of two or three or of mam* organs in the normal place 

 of one, Chorisis or Deduplication. The lirst does not alter the 

 normal symmetry of the blossom, although it may render it dif- 

 ficult or impossible to trace or demonstrate it. The second 

 apparently disturbs, or at least disguises, floral symmetry. 

 Hither may be definite, or of a constant and comparatively 

 small number; or indefinite, when too numerous for ready 

 counting, or inconstant, as the higher numbers are apt to be. 



368. Regular Multiplication, or Amju/i'iitut/on of fn,-,il Circles 

 or spirals, may affect an}- or all the four organs, but most com- 

 monly the andrcecium. AVhen the perianth is much increased 

 in the number of its members, the distinction between calyx and 

 corolla, or even between (tracts and corolla, is apt to disappear, 

 as in most Cactaceous flowers (Fig. 317), Nelumbiuin, Calycan- 

 thus, &c. In these and similar cases, the members of the perianth 

 are prone to take a spiral instead of cyclic arrangement ; and this 



ami in obdiplostemony. Along with the lack of clear analogy to support 

 St. llilaire's hypothesis of transverse deduplication, the similar orientation 



of the vascular bundles in the petal and the stamen before it must, as 

 Celakowsky insists, be good evidence that these represent independent 

 leaves, and not superposed portions of one. 



The main objection to the second hypothesis (that of a suppressed 

 circle outside of tin- antipetalons stamens) is that this missing circle, 

 whether of petals or stamens, is not actually met with in any nearly re- 

 lated form.s (for in Monsonia the fifteen stamens are otherwise explained); 

 al>o that then' are transitions, a> above mentioned, between ohdiplostcinony 

 and direct diploMemony. To Brann's theory that the glands behind the 

 antiaepalous staniens in true Geraniaceie answer to suppressed phvlla, 

 Kichler objects that these are present behind all ten stamens in <>xalidca>; 

 also that all are wanting when the olliec of nectar-secretion, which they sub- 

 serve, is undertaken by some other part of the flower, as by the calyx-spur 

 in Pelargonium and Tropa>olum. The first objection is forcible: the second 

 mixes morphological considerations with functional, and is inconclusive. 

 Abortive organs, preserved for their utility as nectaries, might totally dis- 

 appear when rendered useless by a different provision for the same function. 



