70 Miscellaneous. 



union with it, then a separation from the main leaf-blade, and a 

 union of the edges of the separated auricle, both above and below, 

 we have a sheathed stipule exactly as we find them, and we see how 

 easily Marjnolm Frazeri might be a pinnate leaf of five leaflets on the 

 supposition that the stipular portions really have taken the course 

 we suppose these auricles might take. 



I suppose no one of experience in living plants doubts the possi- 

 bility of the adhesion of some parts and the separation of others, so 

 as to make new parts or organs. If such is desired, I would refer 

 to the adhesion of the carpellary leaves by their backs in the cap- 

 sules of Staphylea trlfoVui, and, for separation, to the pinnate leaf 

 often formed out of an entire blade in Fraxinus excelsior, hetero- 

 phylla, and many other plants with entire leaves which often have 

 pinnate ones amongst them. 



It is scarcely possible, with these facts before us, to avoid the sus- 

 picion that the stipules of Magnolia are not formed like the stipules 

 of most plants, which are perhaps leaf-portions which have never 

 been weU developed, but rather are the tolerably well-developed side 

 pinnules of a trifoliate or deeply auricled leaf, which in an early 

 stage had adnated with the petiole and by their edges, and thus 

 formed the stipular sheath we see. The suppositional case I have 

 drawn from the auricles of M. Frazeri is still better illustrated by 

 leaves of some Eanunculaceous plants. For instance, Anemone penn- 

 sylvanica. Lay the lower lobes fiat against the petiole, imagine the 

 adnation by their backs, and cohesion of the edges, and we have the 

 idea clearly. 



It is difficult to conceive that these stipular sheaths could have 

 been formed, in harmony with all the appearances we have detailed, 

 in any other way ; but ideas and possibilities are not as good as 

 direct facts. These are furnished in good part in other ways. 



In the East-Indian species M. fuscata the flowers are axillary, 

 not terminal as in most other species. Three of the leaf-axils on the 

 growth of last year produce flowers. The lowest flower is the 

 weakest, the upper the strongest. The bracts which infold the 

 flower-buds are of course transformed leaves ; and here, in these 

 weak flowers, where the tendency of the vital course is almost as 

 near to foliar organs as to floral parts, we find these leafy-looking 

 bracts are trifohate. The central lobe is composed of a short petiole 

 and a small oval leaf-blade. Sometimes this attempt of the lower 

 axil to produce a flower proves abortive. The already formed petals 

 die away. In such cases the two lateral leaflets die away also, and 

 the little miniature central leaf goes on and developes into one as 

 large as the average on any part of the plant. But in the stronger 

 flowers we find, just in proportion to their strength, the two lateral 

 leaflets enlarge, and the central one diminish imtil at length it disap- 

 pears, petiole and all. The laterals then adhere htj their edges, 

 become fleshy, and end in being petals. These are clearly seen to 

 be formed out of the adnated lateral leaflets, which form the stipular 

 sheaths in other cases, with the central of the trifoliate type absorbed. 

 This observation, in addition to the use I wish to make of it, con- 



