SOLUTION OF CALYX FROM PISTIL. 81 



Campanumcea they adhere to the base of the tube of the 

 corolla."^ In this order, then, as in ^'ScurifragacecBf 

 Bruniacece^ &c., no hasty conclusion should be drawn 

 as to the nature of the fruit. In Brunia microphylla 

 the ovary is superior, enclosed within but not adnato 

 to the cup-like calyx, to which latter, however, the 

 petals and stamens are attached. 



In OnagracecB (Jussieua), as also in Cactacece (Ojnmtia)^ 

 buds have been observed on the surface and edges 

 of the inferior ovary. Indeed, in the former genus, 

 they have been produced artificially, but as buds may 

 be formed on foliar as well as on axial organs, the fact 

 cannot be made great use of in support either of the 

 foliar or axial nature of the inferior ovary. In Epi- 

 lobium, I have met with four perfect leaves at the 

 summit of the ovary, in the place usually occupied 

 by the sepals. This would also favour the notion that 

 the axis entered into the constitution of the fruit in 

 this genus. 



Mr. B. Clarke, in his * New Arrangement of Phanero- 

 gamous Plants,' p. 4, cites a case wherein the perianth 

 was completely detached from the surface of the ovary 

 in Cannabis sativa. 



It must be borne in mind that some of the recorded 

 instances of change in the relative position of the calyx 

 and pistil ought more properly to be referred to a sub- 

 stitution of carpels for stamens, as in Begonia^ Fuchsia ^ 

 &c. Among Guciirhitacece^ examples have been re- 

 corded, both of the detachment of the calyx from the 

 ovary,^ and of the partial conversion of some of the 

 anthers of the male flower to carpels. 



The very singular mode of germination of Sechium 

 edule in which the fruit, instead of rotting, becomes 

 thickened into a kind of rhizome or tuber, is a fact 

 that should not be overlooked in investigating the true 

 nature of the fruit in this order. 



' Hook et Thorns, * Proecurs. ad Flor. Ind.,' Joum. Linn. See., vol. ii, 

 1858, p. 6. 

 " Lindley. * Veget. Kingd..' p. 315. 



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