MR. M. T. MASTERS ON AXILLARY PROLIFICATION IN FLOWERS. 485 



the second *. Pears are occasionally also observed arising either from the axils of the 

 sepals of the primary pear or from the axil of leaves originating on the outer surface 

 of the fruits — using the term fruit in its popular sense. These cases afford strong con- 

 firmation of the view, that the outer portion of the so-called fruit in these plants is rather 

 to be considered as an expansion and hoUowing-out of the flower-stalk, than as formed 

 from the calyx-tube. It is noteworthy that the true carpels and seeds are frequently 

 entirely absent in these cases t- M. Trecul has described and figured an instance in a 

 species of Prismatocarptis, in which a second flower proceeded from the axil of a bract 

 attached to the side of the fruit of the first flower %. I have in my previous paper al- 

 luded to the occasional presence of leaves on the calyx-tube, so-called, of the Rose, Pear, 

 and Apple, to which I may now add, on that of Cratcegus tcmacetifoUa. 



The unripe fruits of some species of Lecijthis were stated by Von Martins, at the 

 Meeting of the German Naturalists at Carlsruhe, to produce buds when placed in the 

 earth. The fruit of these plants is probably of the same nature as that of the Tomacece. 



The fruits of Oiyuntia Salmiana and O. fragilis § have been observed to form small 

 fruit-like branches around their summits. M. Napoleon Doumet describes the fruit as 

 ripening as usual, but as being destitute of seeds in the interior ; after a little while, 

 the fruit begins to wither, and then a circle of small buds, like those of the stem, 

 may be seen at the top of the fruit, each bud springing from the axil of a little tuft 

 of wool and spines found on the fruit. These little buds elongate into long shoots, 

 produce flowers the following year, which flowers exhibit the same peculiarity. Gas- 

 parini and Tenore are said to have recorded the same fact as long since as 1832. The 

 specimen from which my figure was taken produced its fruits in the Eoyal Gardens 

 at Kew, and is now preserved in the museum of that establishment (PI. LIV. fig. 2). 

 The adventitious growth in these cases appears to arise from the tufts of spines, which, 

 it has been suggested, are the homologues of the sepals. There can be little doubt that 

 fhe outer and lower portion of the fruit of Opuntia and its allies is a dilatation of the 

 flower-stalk. This is borne out by the fruits of Pereskia, which bear leaves on their 

 surface arranged spirally. 



The fruits of Pereskia Bleo are mentioned as producing buds from their summits, in 

 the same way as the Opuntia just cited. P. Bleo is said, by M. Delavaud \\, to present 

 this anomaly as a constant occurrence. On the summit of the primary fruit, arising 

 apparently from the axils of the sepals, or of small leafy bracts in that situation, are a 

 series of fruit-like branches, which, in their turn, are surmounted by others, even to the 

 fourth generation. I have not seen an instance of this myself; but a figure is given 

 in the work below cited. Tenore also has recorded " the transformation of the fruits of 

 Nymphcsa alba and iV. Lotus into true tubercles, after the seeds had returned to the 

 condition of elementary mucilage^." I have not seen the paper wherein this extra- 



* Cf. Moq.-Tandon, p. 384 ; also Liudl. Elements of Botany, p. 65, fig. 130 ; " Theor. Hortic." Gard. Chron. 

 1851, p. 67 ; Irmish, Flora, 1858, &c. 

 t Caspary, Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. vol. vi. 1859 ; also Payer in vol. i. 1854. 



X Trdcul, Ann. Sc. Nat. 2 se'r. vol. xx. p. 339. § Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. vol. i. p. 306, vol. v. p. 115. 



II Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 1858, p. 685. % Atti della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Napoli, t. iv. 1839, pp. 41-45. 



