366 MR. M. T. MASTERS ON PROLIFICATION IN FLOWERS. 
in the Ann. des Sc. Nat. 3 ser. 1844, p. 290, among other similar instances mentions two 
flowers of Cortusa Matthioli, wherein the placenta was ovnliferous at the base ; but the 
upper portion, instead of simply elongating itself into a sterile cone, had produced a little 
flower with its parts slightly different from those of the normal flowers. M. Alph. de Can- 
dolle has likewise described somewhat similar deviations, and one in particular in Primula 
auricula, where the elongated placenta gave off long and dilated funiculi bearing ovules, 
while other funiculi were destitute of ovules, but were much dilated and foliaceous in 
appearance * . 
In speaking of these as cases of intra-carpellary prolification, it is of course impossible 
to overlook the fact that they differ in degree only from those cases where the lengthened 
axis projects from the cavity of the carpels ; nevertheless they seem to demand special 
notice, because in these plants the placenta or its prolongation appears never to protrude 
beyond the carpels, or at least very rarely. There are, however, numerous instances of 
such an extension of the placenta and prolification occurring among Primulacece attended 
by the more or less complete arrest of growth of the carpels f. An instance of this kind 
has come under my own notice in a monstrosity of the Chinese Primrose, in which the 
carpels were reduced to a hardly discernible rim surrounding an umbel of five rays, each 
terminated by a small normally constituted flower bud. 
The ovules of a prolified flower, if present at all, are usually unaffected, though occa- 
sionally they undergo various transformations. 
Under the term prolification of the fruit two or three distinct kinds of malformation 
appear to have been included. The term seems usually to be applied to those cases where 
from the centre of one fruit a branch bearing leaves, flowers, or another fruit is seen to 
project, as happens occasionally in Pears. Now, in many instances, not only the fruit is 
repeated, but also the outer portions of the flower, which wither and fail away as the 
adventitious fruit ripens ; so that at length the phenomenon of one fruit projecting troni 
another is produced. It is obvious that this form of prolification in no wise differs irom 
ordinary central prolification. Sometimes some of the whorls of the adventitious flow e 
are suppressed ; thus M. Duchartre describes some Orange blossoms as presenting alter- 
nating series of stamens and pistils one above another, conjoined with the suppression 
the calyces and corollas belonging to each series of stamens and pistils j . In other cas , 
doubtless, the carpellary whorl is alone repeated, the other whorls of the adventitio 
flower being completely suppressed. 
Another condition, apparently sometimes mistaken for prolification of the fruit, is t « 
in which the carpellary whorl becomes multiplied ; so that there is a second or even 
third series within the outer whorl of carpels. If the axis be at all prolonged, then the 
whorls are separated one from the other, and produce in this way an appearance ot pro 
fication. This happens frequently in Oranges, as in the variety called Mellarose§. 
Never having had the opportunity of examining any of the flowers or fruits oi 
* A. de Candolle, Neue Denkschriften, op. tit. p. 9 ; also Unger as cited in Botanical Gazette, May 1851, P- ' ■ 
t Duchartre, op. tit. ; Babington, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1844, p. 464. 
% Ann. Sc. Nat. 1844, toI. i. p. 297. 
§ Maout, Lecons Elementaires de Botanicme. vol. ii. n. 488 : TWrari. Hesnerides. nl. 271. 315, 405. 
