DOUBLE FLOWERS. 



By Rev. W. Woolls, Ph.D., F.L S. 



Mr. Bentliam, in his introduction to the Flora Ausiraliensts, 

 remarks that " Double Flowers are in most cases an accidental 

 deformity or monster in which the ordinary number of petals is 

 multiplied by the conversion of stamens, sepals, or even carpels 

 into petals, by the division of ordinary petals, or simply by the 

 addition of supernumerary ones." Whatever may be the cause of 

 the phenomenon (whether from the influence of cultivation, hybrid- 

 ization through the agency of insects, or atmospheric changes), 

 such flowers are highly esteemed by florists, not merely on account 

 of their size and showiness, but because they produce their flowers 

 annually without any diminution of what is considered their beautv. 

 This arises from the fact that the plants are not weakened by the 

 ripening of seed as in the case of single flowers, which in many 

 species are found to blossom less abundantly every second or third 

 year. Botanists and Horticulturists difier very much in their 

 estimate of double flowers, for whilst the former regard them as 

 " monstrosities" or deviations from their original. type, the latter 

 look upon them as ornamental and desirable for cultivation. 

 Whilst, in Europe, the peach, the cherry, and the hawthorn have 

 long been known for the abundance of double flowers which they 

 frequently yield, few double flowers have as yet been found amongst 

 Australian plants, especially in a wild state. Ruhus rosifoUus 

 (Sin. Ic. PI., t. 60) a species widely spread over the warmer regions 

 of Africa and Asia, is common to Queensland, N. S. Wales, and 

 Victoria, and has long been known for its double or semi-double 

 flowers ; but perhaps of all orders in Australia, no one has such a 

 tendency to produce them as the Epacrids. Epacris purpurasceas 

 (R. Br.) was one of the first found in that state, having been 

 noticed many years since on Elizabeth Farm near Parramatta, and 

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