ADA HYPERTROPHY OF THE 
A very curious illustration of hypertrophy of the 
flower-stalk is recorded and figured by M. Carriere’ in 
the cherry. The calyx in these fruits was completely 
superior, the succulent portion of the fruit being made 
up of the dilated extremity of the peduncle, and possibly 
in part of the base of the calyx. ‘The general appear- 
ance was thus that of a crab-apple. There was no 
stone in the interior, but simply a rudimentary kernel 
or seed.” 
Moquin-Tandon records an instance in which the 
stamens of each individual flower in the inflorescence 
of a vine were hypertrophied, the sepals, petals, and 
other organs of the flower, being proportionately 
diminished.’ 
In this place may also be mentioned the hypertro- 
phied condition of the placenta observed by Alphonse 
de Candolle in a species of Solanwm, and also in a 
species of Melastoma. Not only was the placenta un- 
usually large in these flowers, but it also protruded 
beyond the ovary.* A similar state of things m Lobelia 
and Ouphea has already been alluded to under the head 
of Alterations of Direction (p. 210). 
The following singular growth in a tomato is de- 
of Horticulture’ ; Caspary, ‘Bull. Soc. Bot. France,’ vol. vi, 1859 (Rev. 
Bibl.), p. 235; Duhamel, ‘Phys. Arbr.,’ liv. i, cap. 3, p. 393, fig. 308; 
Bonnet, ‘Recherch. Us. feuilles,’ tab. XXvl, ‘fig. 2; Moquin-Tandon, 
‘El. Ter. Veg.,’ p. 384, Xe. Some of the cases recorded are, however, 
instances of true prolification. 
1 «Revue Horticole,’ 1868, p. 310. 
> The interest of this accident is great, as showing how an habitually 
superior ovary may become inferior—a change so rare in its occurrence 
that its existence has been denied, and thus forming a marked contrast 
with the frequency with which the converse change “of an inferior ovary 
to a superior one, from want of union with the calyx or from imperfect 
development of the peduncle, may be observed. It is also interesting as 
showing how the peduncle may become swollen, and at the same time 
how the woody deposit of the endocarp may, as if by compensation, be 
deficient. And, again, the malformation is not without significance in 
regard to the relationship between the drupaceous and the pomaceous 
subdivisions of Rosacee. The case would fitly be included under altera- 
tions of position, but the sheets relating to that subject were printed 
off before the pupae of M. Carriére’s notice. 
% * Bull. Soc. Bot. France,’ 1860, vol. vii, p. 881. 
4 “ Monstr. Veget.,” in ‘ Neue Denkschrift.’ 
