150 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
We shall conclude our remarks on the stamens by some inquiry 
into the morphological nature of this part of the flower. 
Bracts, sepals, and petals are modified leaves, as we have seen. 
It appears difficult to believe, at first sight, that the same should 
be the case with stamens. Yet, pick the petals from a flower of 
the White Water-Lily; you will observe, as you approach the 
centre of the flower, that the petals diminish in length and breadth, 
and: present towards the summit, an anther, at first rudimentary ; 
this becomes more and more complete as the supporters pass 
insensibly from the form of a petal to that of a filament. In the 
Columbine, under the influence of cultivation, we see the stamens 
changing by degrees into forms analogous to those constituting its 
elegant corolla. In the Rose, we often find organs which are half 
petal and half stamen. 
There is a very curious monstrosity in one species of the Rose, 
in which all the organs of the flower are transformed into leaves, 
so as to constitute what horticulturists call a monster rose. In this 
production we can follow, step by step, all the transformations 
between an almost perfect stamen, and a petal which has been 
transformed into a green leaf. 
All these facts demonstrate that the stamen is only a metamor- 
phosed petal. But we have already shown the analogy of petals 
with sepals, of sepals with bracts, and of bracts with leaves. 
Stamens, therefore, like these organs, are only metamorphosed 
leaves. In short, the filament of the stamen has been compared to 
the claw of the petal, or the petiole of the leaf, the limb to the leaf 
itself, the pollen to a special modification of the parenchyma of the 
te the connective to the central part, that is, the midrib of 
the leaf. ' 
Tue Pisriu. 
As we advance in the study of the organic parts of plants, it 
will be observed, that nature is constantly approaching her essential 
object, the propagation and preservation of the species. The pistil 
is the essential organ in the reproduction of plants; Nature, there, 
fore, has taken care to collect round the pistil all possible means 
for its protection and defence. It is placed in the centre of the 
flower, sheltered under several concentric coverings, and defended 
