134 DR. J. D. HOOKER ON THE GROWTH AND COMPOSITION 



ovules or carpellary organs are differentiated, and I shall therefore commence with the 

 hud at this stage, as the first in which the structure and composition of the ovary can 

 be studied. 



1. In the first stage (PI. XXVI. fig. 2) the bud is a minute turbinate body, about \ line in 

 diameter, with little external distinction between the flower and peduncle. On a vertical 

 section (fig. 3), the double perianth is foimd to be wholly superior, the sepals placed highest, 

 then the petals, then the stamens, whose anthers (s) form minute clavate bodies, sessile 

 at the very base of the petals. All these organs are placed considerably above the plane 

 of the centre of the flower, which presents a depressed area with a very low broad central 

 mamUla, whose vertex scarcely rises to the level of the plane of the base of the stamina. 

 At this period the ovary is manifestly plimged into the apex of the peduncle, and can 

 l)y no means be regarded as invested by the true calyx, the bases of the sepals being 

 obviously iusei'ted in the margin of the broad obconic apex of the peduncle. In some 

 1)uds at this period, the central mamilla of the axis (the future style of Grifiith) is sur- 

 rounded by a low broad ridge, or annulus, correctly described by Grifiith as belonging to 

 the carpellary leaves. 



This is Griffith's earliest stage ; he, however, regards the central mamilla as the pistil- 

 lum itself, a view which is irreconcileable with the fact that the ovarian cells are in the 

 next stage developed below the plane passing through its base, and removed from the 

 circumference of its base. 



2. The next marked stage (fig. 4) is that in which the anthers are fully formed and their 

 pollimferous cavities defined, and hence weU distinguishable. At this period the central 

 mamflla has risen, and presents the appearance of a style consisting of a short column 

 with a depressed conical hemispherical base ; it is more or less invested by the annulus (a), 

 wliich was obscurely seen in the first stage ; this annulus has five notches at its mouth, 

 is very thick, and points upwards and inwards towards the apex of the column, being 

 usually applied to its base. The relative position of the stamens and perianth to the plane 

 of the ovarium is the same as in the first stage ; vascular bundles are developed in the 

 petals, and are traceable continuously downwards into the peduncle, and branches from 

 these bundles supply the stamens also. The stamens arch over the annulus, and the con- 

 niving apices of the anthers almost reach the central column ; they are opposite the five 

 notches in the annulus, and five slight ridges on the annulus correspond with its teeth 

 and with the interstices between the anthers. 



At this period the ovules are fix'st developed. A whorl of about twenty minute cavities 

 are traceable in a plane below the point of junction of the annulus and conico-hemi- 

 spherical base of the column ; the ovarian cavities (o) point downwards and outwards. The 

 ovules appear as minute papUlse, occupying the base of each cavity towards the axis; 

 they present no distinction of parts whatsoever. No vascular bundles are discernible in 

 the ovarivmi. 



In this stage I have included the second and third stages of growth described by 

 Grifiith, because, after examining an extensive series of buds, I find very great irregu- 

 larities in the time of appearance of the ovarian cavities, relatively to the development 

 of the annulus. In some buds I find the ovules formed before the annulus has reached 



