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 wiU. 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 : — CrucifercB, espe- 

 cially the genus Brassica ; Caryophyllacece, e. g., DiantJms ; Reseclacece ; LeguminoscB, e. g., 

 Melilotus, Trifolinm, Sfc. ; Bosacecs, e. g., Bosa, Potentilla, Sfc. ; JJmhelUferce, and Cam- 

 panulacecB. 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 

 in 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. 



