DEGENERA TION. loi 



exactly analogous to that of the Smiguisorba, con- 

 sidered above. It tends to show that petals are not 

 developed from bracts, but from altered stamens. 



From cases like these, we go down insensibly 

 through all the ranks of the dicotyledonous Mono- 

 cJilamydcc. In the ParonycJiiacece, for example, we 

 get an order closely allied to the CaryopJiyllacece 

 (especially to Polycarpon) ; and in one genus {Cor- 

 rigiolii) the flowers have small white petals, which 

 certainly aid in attracting insects. But in Herniaria 

 the flowers are quite green, and the petals are re- 

 duced to five small filaments, thus partially reverting 

 to their presumed original character as stamens. In 

 Sclerantlius the filaments are often wanting, and in 

 some exotic species altogether so. ^\\^ Amarantacece^ 

 unrepresented in Britain, approach the last-named 

 family very nearly, but have the petals altogether 

 obsolete ; and in many cases, such as Prince's feather 

 {Amaranthus hypocJiondriacus) and Love-lies-bleeding 

 {A. caudatus), the calyx becomes scarious and brightly 

 coloured. The Chenopodiacece are other near relations, 

 in which also the petals are quite obsolete ; and in most 

 of them the perianth (or calyx) is green. In Salicornia 

 it has become so embedded in the succulent leafless 

 stem as to be almost indistinguishable. The Poly- 

 gonacece^ on the other hand, are a group of plants, 

 allied to C/ieiiopodiacccc, but with a row of degraded 

 petals, and a strong tendency to produce coloured 

 perianths, analogous to that which we observed in 

 Sa/igiiisorba. The flowers of Riuncx, the docks, are 

 sometimes green, sometimes red ; those oi Polygoniuu 

 are pale-green, white, or pink. Rumex is sometimes, 

 Polygcvium constantly, fertilised by insects. 



