482 MR. M. T. MASTERS ON AXILLARY PROLIFICATION IN FLOWERS 
prolification, is as truly axillary as that to which the name is restricted. In conse- 
quence of certain peculiarities in the structure of some flowers, to be hereafter alluded 
to, it is not in all cases easy to decide whether the new growth springs from the interior 
of the flower, or from the inflorescence beneath the flower. 
The accessory bud presents itself as a leaf-bud, a branch, a flower-bud, or a miniature 
inflorescence ; it may be sessile, but is far more frequently stalked, and in more than 
half the number of cases is a flower-bud or an inflorescence. There may be one or more 
of these buds ; if two only, then they are usually placed directly opposite one to the 
other, on the opposite sides of the flower. 
It will be seen, from the appended list, that the orders and genera in which this descrip- 
tion of adventitious growth occurs most frequently are the following : — Cruciferce, espe- 
cially the genus Brassica ; Caryophyllacece, e. g., Dianthus ; Resedacece ; Leguminosce, e. g., 
Melilotus, Trifolium, 8fc. ; Mosacece, e. g., Mosa, Potentilla, fyc. ; UmbellifercB, and Cam- 
pcmulacece. For the most part, these are groups also peculiarly liable to central pro- 
lification. 
All the parts of the flower may be thus affected ; but, as might have been anticipated 
from the foliaceous nature of the sepals, the new bud usually arises from within the axil 
of one of those organs. Next in frequency to the calyx, the pistil is subjected to this 
change — the carpels, however, in such a case being disunited and leaf-like. The petals 
rank next, and lastly the stamens ; these latter, indeed, are usually, but not invariably, 
absent in these instances, the new growth even occupying their position. Hence it may 
well be that, when such is the case, there is no real axillary prolification, but rather the 
substitution of a bud for a stamen. Generally, however, the position of the accessory 
bud is such that it may properly be referred to the axil of an undeveloped stamen. 
The largest number of instances of this malformation, not merely generically, but also 
individually, occurs in plants the members of whose floral whorls are not united one to 
the other : thus, it is far more common in polypetalous flowers than in gamopetalous 
ones. In the prolified flowers belonging to the latter group, the sepals, if not actually 
uncombined, are only united for a short distance. The same relationship, but in a much 
less degree, exists in the case of median prolification, as that aberration is likewise most 
commonly met with in polypetalous flowers. Another feature of interest is the rarity 
with which axillary prolification is met with in irregular gamopetalous flowers. It may 
be that the irregular and comparatively excessive growth in some parts of these flowers, 
as compared with others, may operate in checking any luxuriant tendency in other 
directions. 
As in the case of median prolification, plants having an indefinite inflorescence are 
more liable to be affected with ecblastesis than those having a definite one. The degree 
of branching of the inflorescence may be noticed, as this deformity is far more common 
m branched inflorescences than in those where there is either a solitary flower or a spicate 
inflorescence. More than two-thirds of the entire number of genera cited as the subjects 
of this malformation have a branched inflorescence of some form or other ; and about 
two-thirds of the cases occur in genera having indefinite inflorescences. If individual 
instances could be accurately computed, the proportion would be even higher. 
