ITS GENERAL MORPHOLOGY. 233 



delicate texture and the brightest hues (425). The perfect grada- 

 tion of leaves or bracts into sepals is extremely common. The 

 transition of sepals into petals is exemplified in almost every case 

 where there are more than two rows of floral envelopes ; as in the 

 Magnolia, and especially in the White Water-Lily, the Illicium, or 

 Star Anise of the Southern States, and the Calycanthus, or Caro- 

 lina Allspice, which present several series of floral envelopes, all 

 nearly alike in color, texture, and shape ; but how many of the 

 innermost are to be called petals, and how the remainder are to be 

 divided between sepals and bracts, is entirely a matter of arbitrary 

 opinion. In fact, the only real difference between the calyx and 

 corolla is, that the former is the outer, and the latter an inner se- 

 ries of floral envelopes. Sometimes the gradation extends one 

 step farther, and exhibits an evident transition of petals into sta- 

 mens ; showing that these are of the same fundamental nature as 

 the floral envelopes, which are manifestly traceable back to leaves. 

 The White Water-Lily (Fig. 265) exhibits this latter transition, as 

 evidently as that of sepals into petals. Here the petals occupy 

 several whorls, and, while the exterior are nearly undistinguishable 

 from the calyx, the inner are reduced into organs which are neither 

 well-formed petals nor stamens, but intermediate between the two. 

 They are merely petals of a smaller size, with their summits con- 

 tracted and transformed into imperfect anthers, containing a few 

 grains of pollen : those of the series next within are more reduced 

 in size, and bear perfect anthers at the apex ; and a still further 

 reduction of the lower part of the petal completes the transition 

 into, stamens of ordinary appearance. 



427. Transitions, or intermediate states, between petals and sta- 

 mens occur in numerous cases. These two are not only adjacent 

 organs, but they appear to have very intimate relations, to which 

 we may allude in another place. But similar transitions between 

 such specialized, and, as it were, antagonistic organs, as the stamens 

 and the pistils would not be expected normally to occur ; nor is 

 there any such regular instance known. Yet they are not unfre- 

 quently met with in monstrous blossoms, as occasionally in the 

 Oriental Poppy in gardens, in the Houseleek, and in certain Wil- 

 lows. These are monsters it is true ; but the study of monstrosi- 

 ties often throws much light upon the regular structure. 



428. The regular transformation, or metamorphosis (if we may 

 use that somewhat ambiguous term), takes an upward course, from 



20* 



