128 



PRINCIPLES OF PLANT-TERATOLOGY. 



corolla, of the andrcecium. It is quite likely that in 



G ah J can thus, Camellia, Cactaceae, etc., the bracts also 

 have been derived from the stamens; though it is 

 possible that they have been derived from foliage-leaves 

 and have later come to arrange themselves in the same 

 spiral series with the floral leaves; or, what is perhaps 

 more likely, of the self -same bracts, some have come 

 from the calyx and some from the foliage-leaves. 



The facts of floral morphology in the Ranunculacese 

 strongly support the view of the staminal origin of the 

 calyx. The presence of a petaloid calyx when the corolla 

 is absent or represented by staminodes or nectaries, and 

 the fact that staminodes and nectaries are of earlier 

 origin than coloured petals, because more nearly related 

 to stamens and derived from them, shows that the 

 petaloid calyx (the almost constant concomitant of 

 the staminodes, etc.) must be of earlier origin than the 

 green calyx of the buttercup (Ranunculus acer), etc., 

 and that of most Dicotyledons. 



The following remarks on the genus Anemone from 

 another publication by the present writer may be of 

 interest: "In some species, as A. virginiana, A. penn- 

 st/ivanica,and A.ranunculoides there is a single perianth- 

 whorl of five coloured leaves, these being arranged, as 

 in Galtha, etc., in a spiral ; the perianth is in this case, 

 as in the other genera above-mentioned, obviously a 

 calyx. In other species, as A. hortensis, A. nemorosa, 

 A. Halleri, there is a distinct tendency shown towards 

 the arrangement of the sepals in two distinct whorls, 

 while at the same time one or two extra sepals* have 

 been added above, with the result that there obtain, as 

 in A. nemorosa, two whorls of three or four members 

 each. A. sylvestris affords a transitional case, where 

 the five sepals are, as it were, hesitating whether to 

 be whorled or spirally arranged on the axis. 



" Now consider the very striking case of A. japonic a 

 or of A. stellata. Here, to the original and primitive 



* The writer now holds that all perianth-leaves above the five outermost 

 are best regarded as petals. 



