328 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No.(} 



the stem, and this alter the leaf-buds have beirun 

 to be Ibrined. Or, to state the case a little diHer- 

 endy, but in a way in which it lias often been 

 put to the test of experiment, and unilbrmly with 

 the same ellisct — two young a|)ple trees may be 

 growing side by side, trees which if" left to them- 

 selves will never bear fruit before the 7ih or 8lh 

 year : if from one of them a ring of bark be re- 

 moved near the root, antl not from the other, the 

 succeeding summer the first will beartlowers and 

 fruit, whilst Uie second will not ; and the flowers 

 and fruit of the one will be found on just those parts 

 of the stem where branches have grown on the 

 other. Now this effect will be produced if the ring 

 of bark is removed after the buds have begun to 

 be formed. In this case it is evident that those 

 buds which in ordinary circumstances would have 

 produced branches, have been actually converted 

 into flowers and fruit. 



Let us now inquire what are the changes which 

 it is necessary that the leaves should undergo in 

 order that they may be converted into the diflerent 

 organs of the flower and fruit. In order that a 

 number of leaves may be converted into a calyx, 

 a change in position is necessary, and generally a 

 slight change in form. If we take two pairs of op- 

 posite leaves, and suppose the internode, or part 

 of the stem which intervenes between them, to be 

 destroyed, or what amounts to the same thing to 

 fail to be produced, we shall have lour leaves 

 occurring in a circle around the stem. Let these 

 undergo a slight transformation, and they will form 

 a fbur-sepaled calyx. If we suppose them to ad- 

 here or grow together at their edges, for a part of 

 their length, instead of a four-sepaled calyx, we 

 shall have a four-parted one. In order that a num- 

 ber of leaves may be converted into a corolla, a 

 change in color, and the same changes in position 

 as in the case of the calyx, are necessar}'. A petal 

 is nothing more than a refined leaf. Of the ne- 

 cessary changes in color, we have many instances 

 in those organs which still remain leaves. The 

 iu^per leaves of the balm (melissa^ are always 

 ■colored. The upper leaves of love-lies-bleeding 

 .(^amaranthus melancholicus). are often of as deep 

 and beautiful a crimson as the flower itself. It is 

 not an uncommon thing in the tulip, to see one of 

 the leaves growing near the flower, variegated 

 with the same rich colors as the flower itself. In 

 order that a leaf may be converted into a stamen, 

 it is necessary that the expanded parts of the leaf 

 on each side of the mid-rib should be aboriive, and 

 that the end of the mid-rib itself, should be devel- 

 oped so as to form an anther; and pretty much 

 Ihe same changes are necessary in order that a 

 leaf may be converted into a pistil. 'J'he change 

 of stamens into petals, and of petals into stamens, 

 is one which very fi-equenlly occurs. The rose has 

 naturally but four petals, or flower-leaves, as we 

 see in the wild-rose and eglantine. All our double 

 roses have been produced by the conversion ofsta- 

 xnens into petals. It is very common thing to see 

 a double rose with 30 petals ; of these 30, 26 are 

 metamorphosed stamens. In fact, in the double 

 rose, we may often find the stamens only about 

 half metamorphosed; having their anthers perfect 

 but their filaments developed as petals. In some 

 plants, this doubling proceeds so far that not only 

 the stamens, but the pistils also, are converted into 

 ■petals, as in the flowering-almond (aiuygdalus 

 jiana). Li the double flowers of the flowering cherry I 



we find the pistils actually converted into leaves. 

 From the very centre of this curious flower, one 

 and sometimes two perfectly formed green leaves 

 make their appearance, by their position indicating 

 that they are metamorphosed pistils. We some- 

 times meet wiih more remarkable translbrmationa 

 than these. In one instance, i have seen a stem 

 growing from the very centre of a double rose and 

 bearing a second rose upon its extremity. The 

 germ of a pistil is the carpel, or fruit in the inci- 

 pient stage of its growth. Of course, in the 

 conversion of a pistil into a leafj we have in fact 

 at the same time an instance of the conversion of 

 a carpel mto a leaf Thus it will be seen that the 

 changes which this theory supposes are not so 

 contrary to the common course of nature as we 

 would at first be inclined to think ; indeed that 

 they are no other than such changes, as nature 

 herself aflbrds us numerous examples of. 



Let us now attend to some of the consequences 

 which must follow if this theory be true. 1st, it 

 would follow that all the organs of fructification 

 must have essentially the same structure. This 

 conclusion agrees with the fiicts of the case as de- 

 termined by examination. All the organs of fi'UG- 

 lification, the sepals, petals, stamens, pistils and' 

 carpel, consist of a vascular and a cellular system, 

 arranged on essentially the same principles; the 

 apparent diflerence arising principally from the 

 more or less perfect developement of the cellular 

 system. 2nd, that the number of organs of each se- 

 veral kind, should, in the same flower, be some mul- 

 tiple of each other. As all leaves are normally 

 situated in whorls, and all the leaves of each 

 whorl at the same height on the stem, and in the 

 same situation with respect to the circulating sap, 

 we would naturally coixlude that all of the leaves 

 belonging to the same whorl would be converted 

 into the same kind of organs. The number of" 

 leaves in a whorl being definite, the number of 

 organs of each kind, must be some multiple of 

 every other. This is fbund to be true in a great 

 number of flowers; thus the /(a'm«me/(S (witch- 

 hazle) has four sepals, four petals, lour stamens 

 and two pistils grown together at the base ; the 

 wake-robin (Jrillium) has three sepals, three- 

 petals, six stamens and three pistils; the cherry 

 (primus), has five sepals, five petals twenty or 

 twenty-five stamens, and five pistils ; the flower- 

 de-luce {iris) has three sepals, three petals, three 

 stamens, and three pistils, grown together at the 

 base ; the blood-root (sanguinaria) has two se- 

 pals, twelve petals, twelve stamens, and 2 pistils ; 

 the garden pea (/3('sw?») li3s five sepals, five petals, 

 ten stamens, and one pistil. When this, which is 

 considered the normal structure of a flower, is de- 

 parted from, the departure is to be ascribed to the 

 abortion, degeneration, or adhesion, of one or • 

 more ol' the organs. In several flowers, belong- 

 ing to the same natural division, we may notice 

 a series of departures, thus seeming to evince a 

 tendency towards the norina! form ; thus in the 

 natural division of scrophvlarice, the graiiola vir- 

 ginica has five sepals, five petals, and two sta- 

 mens ; the graiiola aurea has five sepals, two 

 stamens and two rudimentary stamens ; the digi- 

 talis, five sepals, five pei:a!s, four stamens ; the 

 pentotcmmon, five sepals, five petals, four stamens, 

 and a fifth one imperfectly formed; the verbascuniy 

 five petals, five sepals, and five stamens. So gen- 

 erally is it true, that the number of each class ci 



