202 ANOMALIES OF DEVELOPEMENT. CHAP. V. 



Gold sborough' Hall near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, 

 in the spring of 1800. I have met also with a simi- 

 lar anomaly in the flower of the Oxlip, and in 

 various other flowers. 



In the sea- Sometimes the anomaly consists in the time of 

 flowering, flowering. The season proper for the flowering of 

 the Apple and Pear-tree is the month of May ; but 

 trees of that sort have been known to protrude both 

 bud and blossom even in the month of November. 

 Some plants, however, blow only in the winter, as 

 is the case of the Laurus Tinus and Arbutus 

 Unedo ; while others blow only in the night, and 

 refuse to expand their petals to the light of the sun. 

 Such is the case of the Cactus Grandiflorus that pro- 

 duces one of the most magnificent of flowers, but 

 blows only in the night ; and is hence known also 

 by the appellation of the Night-blowing Cereus. 



Some plants, such as the Ferns, Algce, and Fungi, 

 are altogether destitute of conspicuous flowers ; and 

 Cryptoga- are hence called Cryptogamous : but in this respect 

 flowers, the Fig is perhaps the most singular. The flowers 

 which in other cases uniformly precede the fruit, are 

 in this case concealed within what is generally de- 

 nominated the fruit; as may be proved by cutting 

 open a ripe Fig by means of a longitudinal section 

 passing through its axis. Great numbers of flowers 

 are then discovered lining a sort of cavity in the 

 axis of the fruit ; and hence what is called the Fig 

 in common language is rather the receptacle of the 

 flower than any thing else. 



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