ON THE CORONA OF NARCISSUS. 107 
within the latter organ^ evidently reiDlacing the stamens, were six seg- 
ments, stalked below, and fused to the tube of the perianth. At the 
upper end of each stalk were two lobes, one in front of the other, the 
outer one petaloid, the inner one smaller and exactly like the corona in 
miniature, so that these specimens resembled M. Gay's closely, — only, 
in. his flower, the outermost coronal whorl was split up into its three 
constituent pieces (dialyphyllous), while in muie it was in its ordinary 
gamophyllous state (fig. 4, 5). In N'. iiicomparabilis and also in N, 
poeticus I have frequently seen modified stamens, which throw great 
light on the structure of the corona; thus, I have seen a two-lobed 
anther, one of whose lobes was prolonged at the base into a little knob 
having exactly the appearance of a portion of the corona. In these 
same anthers there was projecting from the summit and side a large 
white petaline segment (fig. 6, 7). Here then, clearly, we have one 
portion of the staminal leaf developing two pollen-sacs, the base of one 
of which latter, being only imperfectly differentiated, forms a corona- 
like kuol) ; while another portion of the same leaf is expanded into a 
petaloid segment. Another specimen yet more conclusive showed a 
filament bearing on its summit half a perfect anther, the other half 
being represented by a corona-like knob, while rising behind these, and 
attached to them, was a petaloid segment (fig. 8). 
In Narcissus montaims, as I have elsewhere stated, I have frequently 
seen the corona split into segments, each segment bearing a perfect 
unmodified anther on the top, somewhat as in the tubus stamineus of 
Melia. Moquin mentions the presence of anthers on the rays of Pas- 
siflora, in some species of which— ^. g. Passiflora Murucuja— the rays 
are combined into a cup like that of Narcissus. So, too, the stami- 
nodia of Sauvagesia and Lavradia are combined together into a cup. 
Even among Willows we have the stamens blending into a tube like 
that of Ruscus* 
But it is unnecessary to cite any more instances in support of the 
staminal nature of the corona. 
That it consists intrinsically of two rows of stamens is more difficult 
of proof, yet if the ^«;r-lobed cup of N. incomparabilis, N. lobularis, and 
others be observed, it will be seen that there are some grounds for 
such a supposition. In the species with lobed cups, three of the lobes 
are opposite to the sepals and alternate with the petals, and these 
Andersaon, Joum. Liun, Soc. Bot. iv. p. 55. Salix cal^culata. 
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