66 ‘OBJECT LESSONS IN BOTANY. 
how the form of the slender stamen gradually changes to 
the broad petal, the anther becoming smaller and smaller. 
One can scarcely say where it ceases to be a stamen and 
begins to be a petal. So, also, the petals gradually pass into 
sepals, and in other plants, Peony for instance, the sepals 
just as gradually pass 
into leaves. (See Class 
Book of Botany, § 113.) 
119. This transforma- 
tion of one sort of organ 
into another (always 
from stamen back to- 
wards the leaf) is quite 
common among culti- 
vated plants. It is in 
this manner that the 
Rose, Carnation, Peony, 
&c., become double, viz., 
by the stamens, and oft- 
en the pistils too, becom- 
ing petals: for in the 
wild state these flowers 
have but five petals. 
120. From these ex- 
amples and others like 
Fig. 200. Flower of Crowfoot. 
Fig. 201. Double flower of the same; the sta~ 
mens and pistils have become petals, 
them, we conclude that the different organs of the flower, and 
the leaf also, although commonly very different, have all one 
common nature and origin; or, in other words, the organs of 
the flower may all be considered as transformed leaves. 
118. Show the graduation of organs in Water Lily. 
119. How do the Rose, Peony, &c., become double? 
120. What great principle is derived from these facts? 
