172 



THE FLOWER. 



buttercups. 1 In these the green hue of the centre of the rosette 

 indicates a tendency to retrograde a step farther into sepals, or 

 into :i duster of green leaves. This takes place in certain blos- 

 soms of the Strawberry, the Rose, &c. Such production of 

 "Teen roses," and the like, has been appropriately called 

 chlorosis, or by Masters r/,A,/v,/,%. from the change to irreen. 

 ;;ui>. A monstrosity of the blossom of White Clover, long ago 

 figured by Turpin (Fig. 319), is such a case of foliaceous rever- 

 sion, in which even the ovules are implicated. 

 The imperfect leaves which take the place of 

 the latter may be compared with the leaty 

 tufts which form along the margins of a leaf 

 of Bryophyllum, by which the plant is often 

 propagated. (Fig. 322.) 



310. The reversion of a simple pistil di- 

 rectly to a leaf is seen in the Double-flowering 

 Cherry of cultivation (Fig. 320, 321), usually 

 passing moreover, by prolificatiou of the re- 

 ceptacle, into a leafy branch. 



311. The reversion of pistils to stamens is 

 rarer, but has been observed in a good number 

 of instances, in Chives, in the Horseradish, 



in Gentians and Hyacinths, and in some Willows. In the 

 latter, the opposite transformation, of stamens to carpels, is 

 vei-v common, and curious grades between the two are met with 

 almost every spring. So also in the common llouseleek, and 

 in perennial Larkspurs. Certain apple-trees are known, both 

 in the United States and Europe, in which, while the petals are 

 changed into the appearance of minute green sepals, the outer 

 stamens are converted into carpels, these supernumerary and 

 in the fruit superposed to the five normal carpels.- In Poppies, 

 many of the innermost stamens are occasionally transformed 

 into as many small and stalked simple pistils, surrounding the 

 base of the large compound one. 



1 It must not be conclude.! that the supernumerary petals in all such cases 



are reverted stamens, or stamens and pistils. Sonic are instances of abnormal 

 plciutaxy, /. .. of the production of our or more additional ranks of petals 

 (better deserving the name of ilonlilc jion-i r), with or without reversion of 

 essential organs to flower leaves. 



2 These trees are popularly supposed to hear fruit without blossoming; 

 the reverted green petals being so inconspicuous that the tlower is un- 

 noticed. 



FIG. 320. 321. Green loaves from the centre of a blossom of Double-flowering Cherry, 

 one still showing. l>y its partial involution anil its style-like apex, that it is a reverted 

 carpel, the other a small but woll-fnnneil leaf. 



FIG. 322. Leaf ur leallet of Hryophyllum, developing plantlets along the margins. 



