MR. M. T. MASTERS ON AXILLARY PROLIFICATION IN FLOWERS. 489 



Plowers borne upon indefinite inflorescences are liable to be affected witb either form of 

 proliflcation more frequently than those borne upon definite inflorescences. Prolification 

 in both varieties is also more frequently met with in branched inflorescences than in those 

 in which the flowers are sessile ; but the degree of branching seems less material, in- 

 asmuch as this malformation is more commonly recorded as occurring in racemes than 

 in the more branched forms of inflorescence. Prom the similar arrest of growth in 

 length in the case of the flower, to that which occurs in the stem in the case of definite 

 inflorescence, it might have been expected that axillary prolification would be more 

 frequent in plants having a cymose inflorescence than in those whose inflorescence is 

 indefinite ; such, however, is not the case. The reason for this may be sought for in 

 the lengthening of the floral axis, so common in prolified flowers — a condition the 

 reverse of that which happens in the case of definite inflorescence. 



Median prolification occurs frequently in double flowers ; the axillary variety, on the 

 other hand, is most common in flowers whose lateral organs have assumed more or less 

 of the condition of leaves. The other coincident changes have either been already 

 sufiiciently alluded to, or do not present useful points of comparison, and may therefore 

 be passed over. 



The investigation of these two kinds of aberration from the usual floral arrangement 

 brings to light many interesting facts bearing on the structural peculiarities of certain, 

 natural orders. On some of these I propose now to speak, premising, however, that 

 the conclusions drawn from teratological researches, should be checked by the results of 

 a keen scrutiny into the mode of origin and progressive growth of the various flowers, 

 and by the analogies derived from a minute and cautious comparison of one natural 

 form with another. 



In the genus Anemone, the supernumerary bud has been often seen to spring from 

 the axil of one of the leaves of the involucre, as it is generally called. If so, the proli- 

 fication must be classed as lateral, and not axiUary. This view is borne out by the 

 analogies presented by Uranthis, Nigella, and other genera. On the other hand, there 

 are grounds for considering the so-caUed involucre as a calyx removed to a long distance 

 from the corolla. Sepatica, and some species of Samadryas, in which the petals show 

 a tendency to become tubular, may be compared with Anemone in support of this latter 

 notion. 



The Criiciferce seem peculiarly liable to prolification in one or other of its varieties. 

 When median, it usually happens that the pistil is separated into two leaves, — never into 

 four, as might be expected were the fruit made up normally of four carpels as has been 

 suggested*. Another common change is one which is suggestive of the relationship 

 between this order and Capparidacece, inasmuch as the pistil is placed on the end of a 

 lengthened thalamus or gynophore. When cruciferous flowers are affected with axiUary 

 prolification from the region of the stamens, it almost always happens that the adven- 

 titious buds are placed on a level with the two short stamens. This may perhaps be 

 cited in support of the hypothesis that there are normally in this family eight stamens, 

 the two that are usually suppressed being represented in the prolified flowers by the 



* Cfr. Lindl. Veg. Kingd. 3id ed. p. 355 a. 



3u 2 



