424 nYrERTKOPiiY ov tiik 



A very curious illustration of hypertrophy of the 

 flower-stalk is recorded and figured by M. Carriere^ in 

 the cherry. The calyx in these fruits was completely 

 superior, the succulent portion of the fruit being made 

 up of the dilated extremity of the peduncle, and possibly 

 in part of the base of the calyx. The general appear- 

 ance was thus that of a crab -apple. There was no 

 stone in the interior, but simply a rudimentary kernel 

 or seed.^ 



Moquin-Tandon records an instance in which the 

 stamens of each individual flower in the inflorescence 

 of a vine were hypertrophied, the sepals, petals, and 

 other organs of the flower, being proportionately 

 diminished.^ 



In this place may also be mentioned the hypertro- 

 phied condition of the placenta observed by Alphonse 

 de Candolle in a species of Solanum, and also in a 

 species of Melastoma. Not only was the placenta un- 

 usually large in these flowers, but it also protruded 

 beyond the ovary.* A similar state of things in Lobelia 

 and Cuphea has already been alluded to under the head 

 of Alterations of Direction (p. 210). 



The following singular growth in -a tomato is de- 



of Hoi-ticulturc' ; Caspary, ' Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' vol. vi, 1859 (Rev. 

 Bibl.). p. 235; Duhamel, ' Phys. Aibr.,' liv. iii, cap. 3, p. 393, fig. 308; 

 Bonnet, ' Becherch. Us. feuilles,' tab. xxvi, fig. 2 ; Moquin-Tandon, 

 * El. Ter. Veg.,' p. 384, &c. Some of the cases recorded are, however, 

 instances of true prolification. 



Revne Horticole,' 1868, p. 310. 



- The interest of this accident is gi'eat, as showing how an habitually 

 superior ovary may become inferior a change so rai-e in its occurrenc<i 

 that its existence has been denied, and thus fonning a marked conti-ast 

 with the frequency with which the converse change of an inferior ovary 

 to a superior one, from want of union with the calyx or from imperfect 

 development of the peduncle, may be observed. It is also interesting as 

 showing how the pedxmcle may become swollen, and at the same time 

 how the woody deposit of the endocarp may, as if by compensation, be 

 deficient. And, again, the malformation is not without significance in 

 reeard to the relationship between the drupaceous and the pomaceous 

 subdivisions of Rosacea^. The case would fitly be included under altera- 

 tions of position, but the sheets relating to that subject were printed 

 off before the public.ition of M. Carriere's notice. 



^ ' Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' 1860, vol. vii, p. 881. 



" Monstr. Veget.," in ' Neue Denlfschrift.' 



