96 METAMORPHOSIS OF ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



108. Each bud is a distinct individual, capable of an inde- 

 pendent existence, as may be seen in the case of ingrafting, 

 layers, &c. ; but, remaining on the parent stem, buds become 

 tranches^ each of which may produce buds and hrancMets. A 

 perfect plant may be considered as a com/pound individual 

 formed of as many units as there are buds, and as many buds 

 as there are branches and leaves. In the process of its growth, 

 the plant continues to enlarge, and the leaves attain their high- 

 est degree of perfection. The growing point now ceases to 

 lengthen in the direction of the axis, slender branches are 

 thrown out, and there is often, in these branches, a diminution 

 in the size of the leaves, which expand in crowded or concen- 

 tric verticils, or whorls. A new development now appears, and 

 instead of a leafy branch we see ^flower. Tliis transformation 

 usually takes place gradually, each successive cauline leaf grad- 

 ually contracts its circumference, loses its numerous lobes and 

 incisions, and expands more or less near the stem ; thus are 

 formed those transition leaves called hracts. These sometimes 

 resemble cauline leaves, but in some cases assume the hue and 

 texture of flowers. Sometimes the flowering process is rapid ; 

 the stem sends forth a slender elongated shoot from the node 

 which corresponds to the last leaf, and forms a ioJioi% by crowd- 

 ing several partial nodes into a ring at the extremities of the 

 shoot ; thus a verticil, or collection of leaves, appears as sepals 

 or parts of the calyx. 



109. A flower is a transformed hrancli^ all its organs heing 

 leaves which have tmdergone a peculiar metamorphosis. The 

 development of flowers near the bracts is the cause of the 

 leaves from which they are transformed becoming checked and 

 diminished in their growth ; and if such be the nature of bracts. 

 it follows that all their modifications, such as the spatha, invo- 

 lucre, and the cup of the acorn, are imj^erfect leaves. In the 

 Camellia japonica the bracts and sepals are so similar that they 

 are scarcely distinguishable. The Strawberry has five little 

 bracts alternating with the five sepals, and closely resembling 

 them. In the Mallow tribe there is a whorl of tracts at the 

 base of the calyx closely resembling sepals ; these are usually 

 said to have a double calyx. From sepals to petals the tran- 

 sition is easy. The calyx, though usually green, and leaf- 

 like, is often colored, and delicate in texture. The Fuchsia, 

 or Eardrop, has a colored calyx which would be considered 

 a corolla but for the inner covering which infolds its sta- 

 mens. In the lily and tulip the floral envelope is often 

 green on the outside and richly colored within, and without 

 terming it either calyx or corolla, we call it 2, perianth. Such 



itH. Process of development. — 109. Flower a transformed branch — Transformation of floral ov' 



