STRUCTURE OF THE PLANT 



19 



by horticulturists who produce reverse transforma- 

 tions, changing stamens into petals. Such staminate 

 flowers changed into petaloid are called double.^ Take, 

 for example, the common peony. It has five petals 

 and many stamens, but the double peony has many 

 petals and correspondingly few stamens. On closer 

 observation we shall become convinced that the inner 

 petals are the transitional form of stamens : on the edge 

 of the bright red, slightly wrinkled petal are situated 



Fig. y. 



yellow anthers more or less well developed. In the 

 dog-rose, which is the prototype of our rose, we notice 

 only five petals and a great number of stamens ; in 

 the rose some of the stamens have been transformed 

 into petals: this is why their number is greater than 

 five. Double flowers are also of interest from the 

 physiological standpoint, because they can be produced 

 artificially. The outer scale-leaves of the bud can also 

 be artificially transformed into real leaves. We there- 



1 In Nature as a rule the different parts of flowers probably appeared 

 in the same way as in the case of the double flowers just described, 

 i.e. the stamens were transformed into petals, and not the petals into 

 stamens. 



