ACTION OF FLOWERS. 



57 



&c., the calyx changes into petals ; in the Houseleek, 

 the stamens become pistils ; and so on. Hence the 

 origin of donble flowers. In a double Barbadoes 

 Lily, described by mgjn the Transactions of the Hor- 

 ticultural /Society, in which the parts were very much 

 confused, the young seeds were borne by the edges 

 of the stamen-like petals, (fig. 8.) 



84. In their ordinary state the parts of a flower are 

 extremely unlike leaves, and each has its allotted 

 office, which is not the office of a leaf; they are also 

 incapable of forming leaf-buds in their axils. But, 

 although such is the case, there is found a strong and 



general tendency on the parts of both the floral 

 envelopes and sexes to change to leaves, like the 

 leaves of the stem. In the white clover (Trifolium 

 repens, fig. 9), all the parts often become leaves ; in 

 the Fraxinella (fig. 10), this has also been remarked ;* 

 * Proceedings of the Horticultural Society, voL i. p. 37. 



