PROLIFICATION OF THE FLOWER. 117 



called flower more nearly resembled a branch. In a 

 flower of a May Duke cherry, for which I am indebted 

 to Mr. Salter, there was a gradual change from the 

 floral to the foliar condition ; thus there were five dis- 

 tinct lanceolate sepals, the arrangement of whose 

 veins betokened that they were leaf-sheaths rather 

 than perfect leaves, ten petals partly foliaceous and 

 sheath-like as to their venation, one of them funnel- 

 shaped, but whether from dilatation or cohesion of the 

 margins could not be determined. The stamens were 

 eight or ten in number, their connectives prolonged 

 into foliaceous or petaloid appendages, so that the 

 filament represented the stalk of the leaf. The pistil was 

 entirely absent and its place was supplied by a branch 

 with numerous perfectly formed stipulate leaves. 



Some flowers of Anagallis arvensis described by Dr. 

 Marchand^ are so interesting and show so well the 

 gi'adual stages by which this malformation is arrived 

 at, that it is desirable to cite the summary of Dr. 

 Marchand's researches as given in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle' by Mr. Berkeley, taking that instance first in 

 which the parts of the flower departed least from 

 the normal condition, and then the others in their 

 proper order. In all the parts there was a greater or 

 less tendency to assume a green tint ; in some they 

 were entirely green, in others the brighter colours were 

 confined to the more recently developed parts. 



"1. In the first case then, the sepals and petals were 

 in their normal position, though rather more dilated 

 than usual; the anthers were fertile, the principal 

 change existing in the ovary, the upper part of which 

 was wanting, so that the ovules were exposed seated 

 on the central placenta. 



2. In the next step the calyx, more developed than 

 usual, was separated from the corolla by a long peduncle, 

 and the ovary, which was ovate, contained instead of a 

 placenta a sort of plumule or young shoot. 



' ' Adansonia,' vol. iv, 1864, p. 150, tab. vii. ' Gard. Chron.,' 

 November 19th, 1864. 



