SEED-BEARING PLANTS 



465 



stamens by petal-like organs (Fig. 346). Not that 

 stamens are ''transformed into petals," as is often stated, 

 but that petal-like organs appear at the points where 

 stamens normally occur in the wild form. In other words, 

 the supernumerary petals are homologous with stamens. 



Fig. 348. — Petalody of stamens in a cultivated rose, a, indicates the 

 remains of anthers on petal-like organs that have replaced stamens. 



This homology is made clear by transitional forms, show- 

 ing all gradations between true stamens and normal 

 petals (Figs. 348 and 349). 



By comparing the methods of doubling the flower in 

 the buttercup and the rose, we see that double flowers may 

 be produced by either (or both) of two methods, often 



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