PROLIFICATION OF THE INFLORESCENCE. 107 



found in Alisma natans^ Juncus uliginosus^ Chlorophytum 

 Stemhergianum^ &c. As an accidental occurrence, a 

 similar thing has been noticed in Lychnis coronaria, 

 Phaius grandifoUiis, Oncidium ceboUetaj Epidendrum 

 elongatum,^ &c. &c. 



Here, too, may be mentioned those cases wherein a 

 leaf-bud is found upon the surface of the so-called in- 

 ferior ovary ; generally a leaf only is found, but a leaf- 

 bud may also originate in this situation, and in either 

 case the inference is that the ovary is, in part at least, 

 made of the dilated and hollowed axis. Leaves may 

 occasionally be found in this way on the so-called 

 calyx-tube or on the inferior ovaries of roses, pears, 

 apples, Pereskiay Cratcegus tanacetifoUa, &c. 



The fruits of Opuntia Salmania and of 0. fragilis 

 (* Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' vol. i, p. 306 ; vol. v, p. 115) 

 have been observed to form small fruit-like branches 

 around their summits. This circumstance is more fully 

 treated of in the succeeding chapter relating to Hete- 

 rotaxy. 



lateral floral proliflcation of the inflorescence. This, which is 

 termed by Engelmann Ecblastesis foliorum sub flora- 

 lium,^ is much the most common of all these deviations, 

 and it is met with in every degree, from the presence of 

 a single supernumerary flower in the axil of a bract 

 to the existence of a small cluster or panicle of such 

 flowers. 



It is common in the Anemone coronaria and hortensisj 

 also in the common scarlet Pelargonimn (fig. 53). It has 

 been frequently recorded in Poterium sanguisorba, and 

 in Sanguisorba officinalis, and is especially common in 

 UmbeUifercB, Dipsacece, and Compositce ; a familiar illus- 

 tration in the latter order is afforded by the hen-and- 

 chicken daisy. In some species of Compositae, indeed, 



' See A. Braun, ' Ann. Scienc. Nat.,' 4th series, 1860, vol. xiv, p. 13. 

 " Prol^icaiio e latere ex calyci communi proles plurimoa pedunculato 

 emiitens, fit in eompogitis ag^egaiia proprie dietis. ' ' Linn. Phil. Bot.,' 



