TRUE NATURE OF FLORAL ORGANS 



209 



about the flower are so sepal-like that it is impossible to 

 tell where the bracts end and the sepals begin (Fig. 158). 

 The same thing is true of sepals and petals in such flowers 

 as the white water-lily. In this flower there is a remark- 

 able series of intermediate steps, ranging all the way from 

 petals, tipped with a bit of anther, through stamens with 

 a broad petal-like filament, to regular stamens, as is shown 

 in Fig. 159, E, F, 6r, H. The same thing is shown in 



PIG. 159. Transitions from Petals to Stamens in White Water-Lily. 

 E, F, G, H, various steps between petal and stamen. 



many double roses. In completely double flowers all the 

 essential organs are transformed by cultivation into petals. 

 In the flowers of the cultivated double cherry the pistils 

 occasionally take the form of small leaves,. and some roses 

 turn wholly into green leaves. 



Summing up, then, we know that flowers are altered 

 and shortened branches : (1) because flower-buds have as 

 regards position, the same kind of origin as leaf-buds ; 

 (2) because all the intermediate steps are found between 

 bracts, on the one hand, and stamens, on the other ; (3) 



