340 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
53. Many petals, without being perceptibly altered in form, never- 
theless indicate their relation to the stamens by having little cavities, 
or by glands attached to them, from which a honey-like liquid exudes. 
this may possibly be the fructifying mixture in a yet imperfect, 
iat an state, we may partly conjecture on the grounds above ; 
alleged, and this will appear still more probable from reasons to be 
presently adduced.* 
54. In other instances the so-called nectaries assume the appear- 
ance of independent organs, and under this disguise they sometimes 
mimic the petals, sometimes the stamens. Take as examples the nec- 
taries of Parnassia, in which thirteen filaments, each tipped with a 
little red ball, bear a strong resemblance to stamens; or Vallisneria 
and Feuillea, where they are like filaments without anthers ; or Penta- 
petes, in which they have a leaf-like form, and are arranged in a | circle 
alternating regularly with the stamens. In systematic works these 
organs are described as filamenta castrate petaliformi mia. Similar am- 
v 
? 
corolla is the result of contraction, as in the case of the stamens, 
Thus we sometimes see within a perfect and wide-spreading corolla, a a 
smaller and contracted accessory one, as in Narcissus, Nerium, and 1405 o 
stemma.t 
Hes ‘the ea subject of much di scassion among 
ave nature can hardly w € r be yet "satisfactorily M out. 
M. ay | (im. Bull. Soe. Bot. f" vi. does a concise aecourit of the opinions 
of previous dtt 2 His Pu be nearly the same as th of 
Schleiden, organ di quedtión 1 is satire from the confluence of six intra- 
perianthil E d ligul Schleiden). Our own observations, 80 far as they g0 
lead — s views that the corona of Narcissus is co vv of 
row of rh ihah whose filaments are petaloid and enters 
objections to this view do not appear to us valid, ener on the other hand, pr. du 
ley's opinion is mpn y the analogy of Pancratium. Moreover, in N. incom- 
is the corona is somewhat six-lobed, the lobes alternating with t 
of the regie on the one sid and with the stamens on the o 
cup which are placed opposite to the outer segments of 
overlap the remainin, M 
lling the $i g ones, which oppose the inner pieces of the perianth 
Narcissus; Tù JY. montanus we have seen, for several i 
; years in s 
placed on the corona, and the Taster omisi divided into episodio 
