472 Miscellaneous. 



often observed by amateur cultivators ; that formations of this kind 

 vary in degree, there being, in some instances, only a few imperfect 

 leaves in the centre of the Rose ; while in others a distinct stem 

 passes through, bearing a second flower. The present instance was 

 shown me as one of this kind, but on examining it I found a quite 

 different and much more interesting condition of the parts. The 

 calyx had been converted into an involucre of foliaceous bracts ; im- 

 mediately within them were a considerable number of. petals, from 

 the centre of which rose a portion of the axis or torus to the height 

 of 1^ inch. At the lower part of this central stem one or two petals 

 were inserted above the rest, but the remainder was bare of any of 

 the ordinary parts of the flowers and clothed with a few mossy setse : 

 it was woody in its texture, and contained no germens. On the 

 summit there was no recommencement of a new flower by a fresh 

 calyx, but only the continuation of the former flower, there being 

 petals, stamens and pistils, none of which were inserted in a calyx, 

 one of the very characters of its class, whether considered by the 

 Linnaean or natural system of botany — but on an expanded recep- 

 tacle. Though thus altered in position, all the parts of the flower 

 being perfect, there is no reason why this flower should not have 

 matured its seed. It was in every respect a perfect flower, though an 

 abnormal one. The points of interest in many monstrosities consist 

 in the analogies which the altered parts exhibit to the normal and 

 usual condition of the same parts in other species, or even sometimes 

 in other classes ; and this is peculiarly the case in the present in- 

 stance. It has often struck me that in Rosaceous plants, the Rosece 

 are merely inverted Dryadecd, — Dryadea, as it were, turned inside out, 

 — the urceolate, so-called calyx of the Roses being rather a concave 

 torus or receptacle ; while in the Dryadece, as Potentilla and Straw- 

 berry, this part is convex ! The same comparison may be made in 

 the Urticaceous plants, between the Artocarpece and Urticece, the 

 former being as the latter inverted. To cite a familiar comparison, 

 the Fig may be said to bear the same relation to the Mulberry which 

 the Rose does to the Blackberry. In the present instance, we have 

 the Rose brought in some respects very nearly to the condition of 

 the Potentilla and Geum, the numerous germens being inserted into 

 an expanded and raised receptacle, and even exhibiting a still nearer 

 resemblance to one species of Geum — the G. rivale, in which a part 

 of the floral axis is elongated in the centre of the flower, forming a 

 short stem, which is clothed as the peduncle. The most interesting 

 consideration of all, however, in the specimen under notice, lies in 

 the wide removal of the stamens from the calyx, thus artificially 

 removing our Rose from the Calyciflorae to the Thalamiflorse ; indeed, 

 the near approximation of the parts of fructification to their con- 

 dition in the genus Anemone is very remarkable. The whorl of 

 foliaceous calyx answers precisely to the involucre of leafy bracts 

 in that genus, which, comparing it with its near congener Ranunculus 

 in the same family (Ranunculacece) , may be considered as the outer 

 perianth or calyx removed from the rest of the floral whorls. From 



