FORKING AND FASCIATION. 



45 



sent interesting statistics concerning flowers of the 

 primrose (P. vulgaris) ; e. g. one flower had eight 

 sepals, seven petals, seven stamens, and seven carpels. 



In some flowers, as in many auriculas, the increase 

 in number is the same in every whorl. In most 

 fascia ted flowers, however, there is great variation in 

 this respect. For instance, in a flower of crocus, 

 received from Dr. Stapf, there were ten perianth-leaves 

 (there would have been twelve if four members of the 



Fig. 70. — Primula vulgaris var. (Polyanthus). Diagrams of three 

 flowers showing three stages in the bifurcation of a flower, s, 

 sepals ; p, petals ; st, stamens ; pi, pistil. 



outer whorl had not each fused with a member of 

 the inner whorl), six stamens, two styles, and corre- 

 sponding sets of stigma-lobes, i.e. six carpels. A 

 flower of Gattlei/a intermedia had four sepals (three of 

 ordinary size and one double) ; nine petals, of which 

 three were labella, while one of the other petals is 

 semi-labelliform ; there were three coherent columns, 

 though the stigma and androecium of each were 

 individualized. This flower is evidently the equivalent 

 of three flowers. In a flower of Odontoglossum crispum 



