PROLIFICATION OF THE FLOWER. 117 
called flower more nearly resembled a branch. In a 
flower of a May Duke cherry, for which I am indebted 
to Mr. Salter, there was a gradual change from the 
floral to the foliar condition; thus there were five dis- 
tinct lanceolate sepals, the arrangement of whose 
veins betokened that they were leaf-sheaths rather 
than perfect leaves, ten petals partly foliaceous and 
sheath-like as to their venation, one of them funnel- 
shaped, but whether from dilatation or cohesion of the 
margins could not be determined. The stamens were 
eight or ten in number, their connectives prolonged 
into foliaceous or petaloid appendages, so that the 
filament represented the stalk of the leaf. The pistil was 
entirely absent and its place was supplied by a branch 
with numerous perfectly formed stipulate leaves. 
Some flowers of Anagallis arvensis described by Dr. 
Marchand’ are so interesting and show so well the 
gradual stages by which this malformation is arrived 
at, that it is desirable to cite the summary of Dr. 
Marchand’s researches as given in the ‘ Gardeners’ 
Chronicle’ by Mr. Berkeley, taking that instance first in 
which the parts of the flower departed least from 
the normal condition, and then the others in their 
proper order. In all the parts there was a greater or 
less tendency to assume a green tint; in some they 
were entirely green, in others the brighter colours were 
confined to the more recently developed parts. 
“1. In the first case then, the sepals and petals were 
in their normal position, though rather more dilated 
than usual; the anthers were fertile, the principal 
change existing in the ovary, the upper part of which 
was wanting, so that the ovules were exposed seated 
on the central placenta. 
2. In the next step the calyx, more developed than 
usual, was separated from the corolla by a long peduncle, 
and the ovary, which was ovate, contained instead of a 
placenta a sort of plumule or young shoot. 
! * Adansonia,’ vol. iv, 1864, p. 150, tab. vii. ‘Gard. Chron.,’ 
November 19th, 1864. 
