HYPERTROPHY. 417 



The alterations of consistence resulting from an in- 

 ordinate development of cellular, fibrous, or ligneous 

 tissue, are, of course, strictly homologous with the 

 similar changes which occur, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, during the ripening of finiits or otherwise. 



Hypertrophy, whatever form it may assume, may be 

 so slight as not perceptibly to interfere with the func- 

 tions of the part affected, or it may exist to such an 

 extent as to impair the due exercise of its office. It 

 may affect any or all parts of the plant, and is generally 

 coexistent with, if not actually dependent on, some 

 other malformation. Thus, the inordinate growth of 

 some parts is most generally attended by deficiency in 

 the size and number of others, as in the peripheral 

 florets of Viburnum or Hydrangea^ where the corollas 

 are relatively very large, and the stamens and pistils 

 abortive. 



CHAPTER I. 



ENLARGEMENT. 



A SWOLLEN or thickened condition (renflement) is 

 usually the result of a disproportionate formation of 

 the cellular tissue as contrasted with the woody frame- 

 work of the plant. We see marked instances of it in 

 cultivated carrots and turnips, the normal condition of 

 the roots or root-stocks in these plants being one of 

 considerable hardness and toughness, and theii* form 

 slender, tapering, and more or less branched. 



The disproportionate development of cellular tissue 

 is also seen in tubers and bulbs, and in the swollen 

 stems of such plants as Ecldnocactus, Adenium obesum, 

 some species of FtV/.*?, &c. So, too, the upper portion 

 of the flower-stalk occasionally becomes much dilated, 



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