88 FAMILIAR LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



its assimilation ; of ascending and descending sap, and its 

 elaboration and deposit of secreted and excreted sub- 

 stances. We will now take up a subject that will give a 

 long name to the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XL 

 Metamor^yhosis, 



234. The metamorphoses of plants may be explained to 

 be the changes that take place in the organs during growth, 

 in respect to form, color, size, etc., and the incidental 

 changes from exceptional circumstances, as culture, exces- 

 sive or deficient nourishment, etc., that may arise in the 

 organs. In their normal state all flowers are single, and 

 are made otherwise by cultivation. This is effected by the 

 conversion of stamens into petals. 



235. You sometimes see a full-blown rose with a per- 

 fectly green unexpanded flower-bud in the center where 

 the stamens and pistils should be. The common honey- 

 locust in an early season will put out fresh young branches. 

 If the season is invaded by the return of cold winds and 

 frosts, folloAved by drought, these tiny rudimentary branches 

 lose their leaves and become thorns. It may be, in a year 

 or two the reverse of all this will be the case — a warm, wet 

 season, when vegetation becomes extremely rank and vig- 

 orous, and these thorns may be seen adorning themselves 

 with tufts of green leaves. That well-known floral ugli- 

 ness, the green rose, is a development of the sepals of the 

 calyx, to the utter extinction of all the other floral organs. 

 Thus we see sometimes a stamen, and the next year a petal, 



234. What does this chapter treat of? What does metamorphosie mean ? - 



235. Tell me of the rose. The honey-locust. Mention some changes in the 

 flower caused by exceptional or incidental circumstances. What are they called ? 



