Origin of Peloric Toadflax 485 



equal ones, and a corolla with five equal seg- 

 ments instead of an upper and a lower lip. It 

 shows the peloric condition in all of its flowers 

 and is often combined with a small increase 

 of the number of the parts of the whorls. 

 It is for sale under the name of erecta, and 

 may be had in a wide range of color-types. It 

 seems to be quite constant from seed. 



Many other instances of peloric flowers are 

 on record. Indian cress or Tropaeolum majus 

 loses the spur in some double varieties and 

 with it most of its symmetrical structure; it 

 seems to be considered justly as a peloric mal- 

 formation. Other species produce such anom- 

 alies only from time to time and nothing is 

 known about their hereditary tendency. One 

 of the most curious instances is the terminal 

 flower of the raceme of the common laburnum, 

 which loses its whole papilionaceous character 

 and becomes as regularly quinate as a conmaon 

 buttercup. 



Some families are more liable to pelorism 

 than others. Obviously all the groups, the 

 flowers of which are not symmetrical, are to be 

 excluded. But then we find that labiates and 

 their allies among the dicotyledonous plants, 

 and orchids among the monocotyledonous ones 

 are especially subjected to this alteration. In 

 both groups many genera and a long list of spe- 



