180 COMPOUND ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



In certain circumstances the Linarias develope themselves 

 with all their petals similar to the middle petal of the lower 

 lip, and the verticil presents then a perfectly regular figure. 

 It is a corolla, with five lobes and five spurs, perfectly equal 

 among themselves. At the same time, the filament placed at 

 the base of the superior lip developes itself into a stamen 

 organized like the others, which, although unequal in their 

 habitual condition, are now absolutely the same in length, after 

 the manner of a flower provided with five symmetrical stamens. 



The name peloria (rttxwpwj monstrous,) has been given to 

 this kind of metamorphosis ; but modern botanists, far from 

 regarding this change as a digression of nature, consider it as 

 a return to the normal state of the flower. To their eyes, an 

 irregular flower is an habitual alteration, and a pelorious flower 

 is a flower put into regular order. 



The parts or organs of the same verticil may have been un- 

 equally developed. This inequality of development is strikingly 

 shown in the papilionaceous corolla of the pea, the parts of 

 which are distinguished by separate names. This plant has all 

 the parts of a symmetrical pentamerous calyx and corolla, only 

 they are irregular on account of an inequality in their develop- 

 ment. In certain orders of the papilionacea the corolla has, 

 however, a tendency to become regular, and in Cassia, the five 

 petals differ very little from each other either in shape or size. 



One or more Jloral verticils may have united with each other. 

 Thus the stamens are united to the calyx in the rose and black- 

 berry, and to all monopetalous corollas. So also the calyx is 

 often united to the ovary as in the apple, in which case the 

 sepals, petals, stamens and pistils appear to grow out of its 

 summit, and the ovary is said to be inferior, as in the honey- 

 suckle and dog-wood. More rarely, the two interior verticils, 



