110,111.] METAMORPHOSIS OF THE FLOWER. 129 



329. By a more gentle transformation, leaves pass 

 into Bracts, which are those smaller, reduced leaf- 

 forms situated near and among the flowers. So grad- 

 ual is the transition from leaves to bracts in the 

 Peony, e. g. that no absolute limits can be assigned. 

 Equally gradual is the transition from bracts to sepals 

 of the flower affording a beautiful illustration of the 

 doctrine of metamorphosis ( 330, etc.). Bracts will 

 be further considered under the head of Inflorescence. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



METAMORPHOSIS OF THE FLOWER. 



330. It has already been announced ( 37) that a 

 flower is a metamorphosed, that is, a transformed 

 branch. No new principle or element was devised to 

 meet this new necessity in the life of the plant, viz., 

 the perpetuation of its kind ; but the leaf, that same 

 protean form which we have already detected in 

 shapes so numerous and diverse, THE LEAF, is yet once 

 more in nature's hand molded into a series of forms 

 of superior elegance, touched with colors more brilliant, 

 and adapted to a higher sphere as the organs of repro- 

 duction. 



331. Proofs of this doctrine appear on every hand, 

 both in the natural and in the artificial development 

 of plants. We mention a few instances. The thought- 

 ful student will observe many more. 



332. In most flowers, as in the Poppy, very little 

 evidence of the metamorphosis appears, simply because 

 it has been so complete. Its sepals, petals, stamens, 

 and pistils how unlike I Can these be of one and the 



