SOLUTION OF CALYX FROM PISTIL. 11 



carpels (c), in contradistinction to adhesion, which may 

 be represented by the unbroken line thusu: 



Is s s s s I 

 c c c c c I 



Solution of the calyx from the ovary. Of all the instances 

 of adhesion which take place under ordinary circum- 

 stances, that between the calyx and the ovary is per- 

 haps the most common. The calyx adhcerens or superus 

 is a structural characteristic to which all botanists 

 attach considerable importance; so that when excep- 

 tional cases occur in which the calyx becomes detached 

 from the ovary, becomes, that is, inferus or liher, a pro- 

 portionate degree of interest attaches to the irregularity. 

 It is not within the scope of the present work to 

 inquire whether this detachment be real or merely 

 apparent, arising from a want of union between parts 

 ordinarily united together. This point must be left to 

 the organogenists to decide in each particular case. 

 So also the question as to what share, if any, the 

 expanded and dilated flower- stalk may take in what 

 are usually called inferior ovaries, can be here only 

 incidentally touched upon. 



Among Bosacece, the change in question is very 

 common, especially in conjunction with an elongation 

 of the axis of the flower (apostasis) and with prolifi- 

 cation, though it is by no means always co-existent 

 with these malformations. When this alteration in 

 the apparent relative position of calyx and carpels 

 occurs in roses {Rosa) the appearances are generally 

 such as to indicate that the " hip" of the rose is a 

 dilatation of the peduncle, continuous above with the 

 coherent bases of the sepals ; this inference seems also 

 to be borne out by what happens in the Pomacece. In 

 some cases in this sub-order, the calyx becomes 

 detached from the carpels, so that the latter organs 

 become more or less " superior," and distinct one from 

 the other. This happens constantly in the double- 



