THE RECEPTACULAR TUBE. 



93 



Roses (Fig. 24), etc., occasionally bear foliage on the 

 external surface of the tube, and when the calyx of the Rose 



becomes abnormally folia- 

 ceous, stipules (Fig, 24, st.) 

 may appear at the summit 

 of the tube, indicating that 



Fig. 24. — Leaf-bearing receptacular tube of Rose 

 (after Masters). 



Fig. 25.— Hawthorn with super- 

 numerary free carpels (after 

 lilasters). 



point to be the base of the sepal. Sometimes supernumerary 

 carpels are borne freely on the top, as in the Hawthorn 

 (Fig. 25). 



On the other hand, a tendency to hypertrophy is some- 

 times discovered in the petioles of leaves of Apples* and 

 Pears (Fig. 26, p. 94) ; and a not infrequent monstrosity is 

 seen in Fuchsias, where one or more of the sepals become 

 foliaceous, and then their petioles are formed but often 

 remain more or less adherent to the ovary if present, which 

 seems to imply that the tube in this plant might be formed 



* Mr. Meehan describes a similar instance of an Apple-tree which 

 never bore jiowers but always had an abundance of fruit. Tlie latter, how- 

 ever, were composed of metamorphosed and fleshy floral whorls. He adds, 

 however, that cork-cells were formed abundantly on the outside of the 

 apples; remarking, "It would seem, therefore, that with the lack of 

 development in the inner series of whorls necessary to the perfect frnit, 

 those which remained were liable to take on somewhat the character of 

 bark structure " {Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., 1873, p. 99). 



