188 



THE PLANT WORLD. 



of the above-named plant. This proliferation was brought about 

 by the modification of the hypogynous stamens into green lacini- 

 ate leaves similar to the leaves of the plant. All of the stamens 

 were thus modified and the pistil was rudimentary. 



Division of Violet Leaves. Miss A. L. Taylor presented 

 to the teratologic collection several leaves of a species of violet 



Figure 36. 



with normally heart-shaped leaves, obtuse apex and crenate mar- 

 gin. In another specimen, the leaves were tripartite, the two 

 lateral lobes being reniform and the middle one obovate. The 

 petiole of another was divided, so that the leaf became a palm- 

 ately compound leaf. Each of the two lateral leaflets of this 

 compound leaf are again bipartite with rounded lobes. The 

 shapes of these leaves are shown in Figure 36. 



Fusion of Violet Flowers. The violet studied was Viola 

 canina rar. Mulilenhergii, presented by Miss Frieda Mueller on 

 May 7, 1906. It represents the fusion of two flowers by their 

 receptacles, but by the union, each flower has lost one sepal and 

 one petal. The petal lost in both cases is the anterior or spurred 

 petal, so that witli the loss of a stamen tetramerous symmetry be- 

 comes the one displayed in each flower. Although the l^earded 

 petals are slightly larger than the other two, the flowers become 

 almost regular by the suppression of the spur and tlie loss of the 

 spurred staminal appendages. The ovary is of the normal char- 

 acter, one-celled Avitli three parietal jilacentse. 



