236 



THE FLOWER. 



a flower, or of one flower out of the centre of another (as rose-buds 

 out of roses). Here the receptacle, or axis of 

 the flower, resumes the ordinary growth, or vege- 

 tation, of the branch. This more commonly 

 takes place after the formation of the floral en- 

 velopes and stamens, but before the pistils ap- 

 pear ; as in Fig. 273. The appearance of a leafy 

 branch from the summit of a Pear (as in Fig. 

 274) is similarly explained. So, likewise, in 

 very wet and warm springs, some of the flower- 

 buds of the Pear and Apple are occasionally 

 forced into active vegetative growth, so as com- 

 pletely to break up the flower, and change it into 

 an ordinary leafy branch. 



432. In such cases the terminal bud goes on 

 to grow, contrary to the normal condition, in 

 which the flower arrests all further development 

 of the axis that bears it. An analogous monstros- 

 ity sometimes occurs, in which axillary buds 

 (148) are developed in the flower. Its organs 

 thus exhibit a distinguishing characteristic of leaves, viz. the pro- 

 duction of buds in their axils ; which develope either as branches 

 or as new axes at once terminated by 

 blossoms. Flowers have thus been met 

 with in the axils of the petals, as in Fig. 

 275, and sometimes even in those of the 

 stamens or pistils. Monstrosities of this 

 sort are common in the Rose. Of the 

 same kind are most of those cases in 

 which one or more fruits, such as ap- 

 ples or pears, grow out of another fruit. 



We have met with flowers of Clarkia elegans which bore an im- 

 perfect blossom in the axil of each petal. 



433. The irresistible conclusion from all such evidence is, that 

 the flower is one of the forms the ultimate form under which 

 branches appear ; that the leaves of the stem, the leaves or petals 

 of the flower, and even the stamens and pistils, are all forms of a 



FIG. 274. A monstrous pear, prolonged into a leafy branch, from Bonnet. 

 FIG. 275. A flower of the False Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens), producing other flowers 

 in the axils of the petals, from Turpin. 



