241 



On a Monstroiiity of Carddmine pratenfiifi. By W. A. Bromfikld, 



M.D., F.L.S. 



I FOUNt) on the 2Sth of May last, in a moory meadow by the Me- 

 (liua, below Ilookley, a Solitary specimen of Cavdamine pratensis, 

 affording a singular instance of abnormal development, and which, 

 though possibly not very uncommon, it may yet be interesting to vege- 

 table morphologists to record. On the lower part of the corymb were 

 several seed-vessels elevated on very distinct pedicels, and changed 

 from their usual linear form to an ovate elliptical figure, so as to re- 

 semble the short pod or siliqua of genera belonging to the first sec- 

 tion of the natural order Crucifera?. These, on being opened, were 

 found to contain petals of the usual pale pink or purple colour, which 

 in the pods above had burst from their confinement at the commissures 

 and appeared as semi-double flowers, the valves of the pods answer- 

 ing exactly by their position to the true calyx. At the summit of the 

 stem the flowers had the ordinary appearance, except that the sta- 

 mens were changed into petals; and on opening the ovary of the high- 

 est blossom, no ovules were discoverable amongst the mass of petaloid 

 laminae with which the cavity was filled. From their verticillate ar- 

 rangement it is evident that these petaloid expansions were not trans- 

 formed seeds, as I hoped to have found them, but simply a develop- 

 ment of the common axis within the ovary into an abortive whorl of 

 floral organs, which structure was clearly manifested by the evident 

 rudiments both of stamens and pistil in the centre of the verticil. The 

 lowermost pedicellate pods had doubtless been at first surrounded by 

 the regular floral envelopes ; from some cause they had not emitted 

 these last at the sutures like the rest, but assumed the puzzling appear- 

 ance of well-formed seed-vessels, belonging to sjaecies of a different 

 section of the order. 



William Arnold Bromfieid, M.D, 



Ryde, Isle of Wight, June 24, 1845. 



Periodical disappearance of (EnantJie pimpinelloides. Bv W. A. 

 Bromfield, M.D., F.L.S. 



Mr. E. Lees (Phytol. i. 1020), has noticed the " uncertain occur- 

 rence " of this plant in Gloucestershire ; I can add my testimony to 

 the inconstancy of what 1 assume for the present to be the same specieg 

 in this island, where either the true CE. pimpinelloides, or one or iHarfJ 

 Vol. II, 2 U 



