375 



of axiliary proliferation, the appearance of buds within the 

 flower (ecblastesis). Sprouts in the centre of the blossoms 

 are more frequent than those in the axils, a circumstance 

 probably connected with the fact, that all shoots, which form 

 the direct continuation of the erect axis, obtain water and 

 nutrition more easily than do lateral branches. In favor of 

 this is also the very rare occurrence of proliferations in 

 flowers which stand isolated in the axils of leaves. 



The doubling of hlossoDis in the Compositae consists, as 

 is well-known, mostly in the change of the normally tubular 

 labiate flowers into brightly colored ligulate flowers (ray 

 florets). Proliferation in the Compositae has often been ob- 

 served, when, instead of the separate florets, a whole head is 

 produced at the base of the inflorescence. Thus Magnus^ 

 reports specimens of Bellis percnnis which had numerous, 

 stemmed secondary heads around the edge of its heads. The 

 same phenomenon has been observed at times on Crepis 

 biennis, L. as well as on Cirsium arvense Scop. Everywhere 

 the individual florets were so developed that they had a more 

 or less long stemmed axis, often provided with dry, mem.- 

 braneous leaflets and crowned by a small but perfect flower 

 head. In fact, on the edge of each secondary head, tertiary 

 heads and even heads of later orders may develop. 



Similarly sprouts from phanerogamic fruits are not rare. 

 The best known examples are found in our pomaceous fruits 

 and. of these, more often in pears than in apples. We give 

 in Fig. 55 an illustration of sprouting pears, in which one or 

 more secondary fruits develop on the primary fruit. This 

 phenomenon may be explained by considering the fruits of 

 our pomaceous fruit as twigs, of which the bark has developed 

 extraordinarily. Usually, the tip of the twig ends in the 

 carpels. These develop into a core and bear the seeds inside 

 this core. The bark of the twig swells, depressing more and 

 more the terminal blossom above the seed primordia and be- 

 comes the flesh of the fruit by material changes and cell- 

 elongation. As in the proliferation of the rose, a pear blossom 

 may also develop a secondar\^ blossom in its centre, in which 

 the small axillary crown between the embryonic carpels 

 elongates ; the carpels are pressed apart, or do not develop at 

 all. This secondary blossom matures into a twig, sprouting 

 from the firts pear. This develops a blossom at its tip or, 

 without it, swells out like a top, thus producing a second pear 

 on the first one. If these twigs do not develop sexual organs. 



itzungsber 

 28. Nov. 



Bot. Ver. d. Pro v. Brandenburg XXI. 1879. 



Fig. 56. 

 Larch cone 



with growth 

 of the axis 

 continued. 



f After Nobbe.) 



