EEGULAR PELORIA. 221 



hairs on the lateral petals ; 4, equal stamens whose 

 anthers are sometimes entirely destitute of the pro- 

 longed crest which forms so prominent a feature under 

 ordinary circumstances ; 5, erect, not curved styles, and 

 the stigmas not prolonged into a beak, but having a 

 more or less capitate form ; ovary with three or five 

 cells, ovules normal. 



These are cases where the change in question is 

 most strongly marked, the bi-lateral is completely 

 replaced by the radiating symmetry. The absence of 

 the usual nectary, and of hairs on the side petals, the 

 alterations in the form of the style, etc., all show how 

 much the process of fertilisation must be altered from 

 that which occurs under ordinary circumstances. In 

 some of the double violets now cultivated in gardens, a 

 similar regularity of proportion in the parts of the flower 

 may be seen combined with the substitution of petals 

 for stamens and pistils, and with the development of 

 an increased number of petal-like organs.^ Between 

 these cases and the ordinary spurred forms as well as 

 those with an increased number of spurs, many inter- 

 mediate forms may be met with. That such regularity 

 should occur in this family is not to be wondered at 

 seeing that there is a whole sub-division of the order 

 (Alsodeiw) in which regular flowers are the rule. 



In cultivated Pelargoniums the central flower of the 

 umbel or " truss " frequently retains its regularity of 

 proportion, so as closely to approximate to the normal 

 condition in the allied genus Geranium; this resemblance 

 is rendered greater by the fact that, under such circum- 

 stances, the patches of darker colour characteristic of 

 the ordinary flower are completely wanting ; the flower 

 is as uniform in colour as in shape. Even the nectary 

 which is adherent to the upper surface of the pedicel 

 in the normal flower disappears sometimes completely, 

 at other times partially. The direction of the stamens 

 and style, and even that of the whole flower, becomes 



> Similar cases are figured in ' Hoi-t. Eystettens. Ic. PI. Vcrn.,' fol. 4, 

 f. 1, 2. Viola martia multiplici flore. 



