TRANSFORMATION OP PETALS AND STAMENS. 



299 



petal. But even where the appearance of the petals is the fur- 

 thest removed from that of ordinary leaves, it is very common 

 to find monstrosities, which show that there is no essential dif- 

 ference. The common Wood- Anemone, for example, not unfre- 

 quently presents several varieties in the character of the sepals 

 and petals, intermediate between what may be regarded as 

 natural to them, and that of the ordinary leaves. Thus, the 

 calyx may be converted into a whorl of true leaves, whilst the 

 white petals have become green and resemble the ordinary 

 sepals ; or the metamorphosis may have proceeded farther, and 

 the petals, as well as the sepals, may have been converted into 

 ordinary leaves. 



460. The structure, appearance, and functions of the Stamens 

 are so different from those of the parts of the perianth, that it 

 would scarcely appear probable that they too are transformed 

 leaves ; and yet this will prove to be the case. There are many 

 flowers, in which the transition from the form of the petal to 

 that of the stamen, is as 

 gradual as those already 

 described. This is the 

 case, for example, in the 

 Paeony; and it is still 

 more evident in the com- 

 mon White Water Lily, 

 the principal stages of 

 transformation in which 

 are represented in the ad- 

 joining figure. The petal, #, is first thickened near its point, as 

 seen at 5, by a deposit of yellow substance, which, when exa- 

 mined, is found to be pollen. This thickened part gains upon 

 the expanded portion of the petal, which becomes contracted in 

 a corresponding degree, as we advance nearer the centre of the 

 flower ; until we arrive at the regular form of the stamen, d, in 

 which we observe that the two thickened parts have met as 

 anther-lobes, and that the leafy portion of the petal is contracted 

 into the filament supporting them. The inner rows of stamens 

 (of which there are several) are still more contracted, not being 



FIG. 95 STAGES OF TRANSFORMATION OF PETALS 

 OF WHITE WATER LILY, INTO STAMENS. 



