78 INDEPENDENCE OB SEPARATION OF 0B0AN8. 



flowered thorn, Cratwgm Oxyacantha, in some blossoms 

 of which the hollowed end of the peduncle still invests 



Fig. 35. Proliferous Rose. Showing an absence of the usual dilatation 

 of the flower-stalk, and other changes. 



the base of the carpels, leaving the upper portions 

 detached. In apples flowers are occasionally met with 

 of greater size than usual and on longer stalks, so that 

 the whole looks more like a rose than an apple blossom. 

 In these cases it will usually be found that the calyx 

 consists of distinct sepals, without a trace of the ordi- 

 nary swelling beneath the flower. The petals are often 

 more numerous than usual ; the stamens variously 

 changed, and the carpels sometimes absent ; at otlier 

 times, as in the instance figured in the adjacent wood- 

 cuts, figs. 36, 37, consisting of separate, superior ovaries, 

 sometimes destitute of ovules, or, at otlier times, 

 having two of these bodies.^ 



This condition accords precisely ^vith the account 

 ' ' Gard. Chron.,' 1865, p. 554; 1867, p. 599. 



