THE AXGIOSPERMAE 1139 



of this condition are also known in less familiar plants and the conclusion 

 has been drawn that where there has been actual invagination of the recep- 

 tacle the anatomy tells the story, while in the absence of such evidence the 

 way is open to accept the concrescence of floral parts as the origin ot the 

 epigynous state. In many cases, e.g., the important one of the apple, no 

 agreement regarding status has been reached. 



Invagination of the receptacle unquestionably happens in certain flowers, 

 unconcerned with inferior ovaries. For example the receptacle in Nelum- 

 bium (Fig. 1113) enlarges during post-floral development, into an inverted 

 cone, in whose upturned base the akene fruits are each, separately, embedded 

 in a little cup. This singular development has few parallels, although 

 something like it occurs in Monimiaceae, as was mentioned above. 





it — 





y ^ 



Fig. 1 1 13. — Nelumbium Jiiicifera. Receptacle with embedded 

 seeds, also seeds separately and gerniination. (From an 

 unpublished pencil sketch by Sir Joseph Hooker.) 



Before leaving this subject it might be well to utter a plea for the reten- 

 tion of the useful words, hypogyny, perigyny and epigyny, in their original 

 meaning as purely descriptive terms and to deprecate the infusion of theory 

 into them which has recently taken place. It should be possible to call a 

 flower epigynous without implying any particular view as to the origin 

 of the condition. To limit it to cases of what are called " true epigyny " 

 according to one theors^ or another is a perversion of language. 



Turning now to the phenomenon which is in some ways the converse 



of axial invagination, namely axial elongation, we find that there are various 



ways in which elongation of receptacular internodes may occur. The 



enlargement of the internode between perianth and androecium, as a torus, 



we have already referred to, but the internode below this, between calyx 



and corolla, may sometimes be elongated, as in some Caryophyllaceae, 



notably Silene saxifraga* (Fig. 11 14), lifting the flower partially or wholly 



* It is true that in this, as in other Caryophyllaceae, there is a basal cohesion of the floral 

 parts, but the gynoecium cannot be borne on this and there must be a core of axial tissue. 



