PROLIFERATION. 



19 



seen arising in the axils of the involucral bracts of the 

 normal one (" hen-and-chickens "-daisy). This is not a 

 very uncommon abnormality in Composite (fig. 65). 

 It is a normal feature in Oladanthus. 



Graebener describes the development of flowers and 

 shoots in the axils of the rudimentary leaves which 

 occur on the cupular axis surrounding and enclosing 

 the fruit in the cactus (Opuntia Bergeriana). In 0. 

 Salmiana it is extremely frequent for vegetative shoots 

 to arise in this position. Various authors describe the 

 formation of secondary fruits from the primary one. 



From the axils of the members of the various floral 

 whorls branches may arise which may then be either 

 reproductive (forming a flower or an inflorescence) or 

 purely vegetative. Those which are axillary to sepals 

 will next be described. 



Hua first described flowers of Cyclamen persicum 

 which bore secondary flowers between the calyx and 

 the corolla, namely, in the gaps between the sepals, 

 this probably owing to space-requirements which did 

 not permit of a position actually axillary to the sepals. 

 These secondary flowers were incomplete, consisting 

 only of two whorls : a (usually) petaloid perianth, 

 with members reduced in number from the normal, 

 and a whorl of stamens usually alternating with the 

 perianth-lobes. Frequently the stamen had a small 

 petaloid outgrowth from its exterior side ; owing to 

 this fact, to the fact, also, that these structures 

 alternated with the perianth-members, which were 

 sometimes green in colour, and also to the further 

 fact that he sometimes found tertiary flowers in 

 exactly the same position in the secondary flowers as 

 these occupied in the primary flower, he concluded that 

 the perianth in the secondary flowers is really a calyx. 

 The present writer has observed the same phenomenon 

 on two occasions (fig. 66) ; and, in respect of some 

 flowers, can confirm Hua's conclusions, inasmuch as 

 transitions were found between green sepals and peta- 

 loid structures in the secondary flowers. In the case 



