CHLOBANTHY. 277 



the coixtlla being then absent. The heads of flowers in this first form 

 have the aspect of little tufts of leaves. 



2. Each of the teeth of the calyx is represented by a long stalk, termi- 

 nated by a single articulated leaflet, the bi -labiate form of the calyx is 

 still recognisable; the two upper petals are united, the three lower 

 separate ; the tube of the calyx is not defonned and seems to be formed 

 of the petioles of the sepals united by their stipules. In this second 

 class of cases the corolla is papilionaceous, the filaments free, the car- 

 pellary leaf on a long stalk provided with stipules, its blade more or less 

 like the usual carpel, with its margins disunited or more commonly united 

 with the ovules in the interior, sometimes represented by a foUaceous, 

 dentate primine only. In one case the carpel was closed above, gaping 

 below, where it gave origin to several leaflets, the lower ones oval, 

 dentate, like ordinary leaflets, the upper ones merely lanceolate, leafy- 

 lobes, representing the primine reduced to a f oliaceous condition. Inflor- 

 escence a head with leafy flowers on long stalks, which are longer at 

 the circumference than in the centre. 



3. Calyx-teeth lance-shaped, acuminate ; corolla more or less regular, 

 arrested in its development and scarcely exceeding the tube of the 

 calyx within which it is crumpled up ; stamens but little changed ; 

 carpellary leaf on a short stalk, not exceeding the calyx tube, but the 

 ovarian portion veiy long, and provided with abortive ovules. 



These three groups will be found to include most of the forms und^r 

 which frondescence of the clover blossoms occurs, but there are, of course, 

 intermediate forms not readily to be grouped under either of the above 

 heads. Such are the cases brought under the notice of the British 

 Association at Birmingham in 1849 by Mr. R. Austen, in some of which 

 the petals and stamens even were represented by leaves. 



Although, on the whole, chloranthy is most frequent 

 in the famihes already alluded to, yet it is by no means 

 confined to them, as the examples now to be given 

 amply show. Specimens of Nymphcea Lotus have been 

 seen in which all the parts of the flower, even to the 

 stigmas, were leafy, while the ovules were entirely 

 wanting. 



Planchon^ figures and describes a flower of Drosera 

 intermedia that had passed into a chloranthic condition, 

 excepting the calyx, which was unchanged ; the petals, 

 like the valves of the ovary, were provided with sti- 

 pules, and were circiunato in vernation. 



' ' Ann. So. Nat.,' 3 sor., vol. ix, p. 86, tubs. v. vi. 



