366 MR. M. T. MASTERS ON PROLIFICATION IN FLOWERS. 



in the Ann. des Sc. Nat. 8 ser. 1844, p. 290, among otlier similar instances mentions two 

 flowers of Cortusa Ilatthioli, wherein the placenta was ovuliferons 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- 

 doUe has likewise described somewhat similar deviations, and one in particular in Frimula 

 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- car pellary 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 Frimiilacece 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 from 

 another is produced. It is obvious that tliis form of prolification in no wise differs from 

 ordinary central proHfication. Sometimes some of the whorls of the adventitious flower 

 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 of 

 the calyces and coroUas belonging to each series of stamens and pistils % . In other cases, 

 doubtless, the carpellary whorl is alone repeated, the other whorls of the adventitious 

 flower being completely suppressed. 



Another condition, apparently sometimes mistaken for prolification of the fruit, is that 

 in which the carpellary whorl becomes multiplied ; so that there is a second or even a 

 third series within the outer whorl of carpels. If the axis be at all prolonged, then these 

 whorls are separated one from the other, and produce in this way an appearance of proli- 

 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 of the 



* A. de Candolle, Neue Denkschriften, op. cit. p. 9 ; also linger as cited in Botanical Gazette, May 1851, p. 70. 



+ Duchartre, op. cit. ; Babington, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1844, p. 464. 



X Ann. Sc. Nat. 1844, vol. i. p. 297. 



§ Maout, Le9ons Elementaires de Botanique, vol. ii. p. 488; Ferrari, Hesperides, pi. 271, 315, 405. 



