1836.] Observations on the Flora of Courtallum. 96 



whole together, whether distinct or united, few or many* 

 a whorl or verticle of such leaves ; that the petals are 

 equally so many leaves, more completely changed, and 

 that the stamens and pistilla, are all leaves more and 

 more altered from the original form. That this is actually 

 the case, there can now scarcely exist a doubt, as every 

 one of these parts has in repeated instances been ob- 

 served, more or less perfectly, to revert to its original form. 

 Indeed, it is almost impossible to examine a double flower, 

 without discovering some trace of what is here stated. In 

 the common double rose many of the centre petals have half 

 an anther on one edge, the filament and other half having 

 expanded into a petal. In the same way, in the double shoe- 

 Hower, nothing is more common than to find one, or more, of 

 the pistilla transformed into a leaf, representing in miniature 

 those of the shrub. The nympheas show this transformation: 

 even more strikingly, because it may be traced in every part 

 of the flower. Thus it is generally difficult to tell u here the 

 calyx ends and the petals begin ; and between the petals and 

 stamens there is usually a number of bodies that are neither 

 petals nor stamens, but partly both. As it would be out of 

 place to go into a lengthened examination of the question o£ 

 morphology, I have merely introduced these instances for the 

 purpose of directing the attention of those curious in such in- 

 quiries to the subject, but cannot drop it without adding the 

 practical deduction which has been drawn from the facts 

 here, perhaps too briefly, stated. It has been already menti- 

 oned that, according to this theory, a flower is an abortive 

 branch, the parts of which, in place of being developed in the 

 usual way, are condensed into a new and highly complex 

 organ, the flower. Hence the sterility of fruit trees in very 

 rich soils, by the too exuberant vegetation converting flow- 

 er buds into branches. Those who wish to know more on 

 this subject will find it, in all its details, most ably elucidated 

 by Dr. Lindley in his Introduction to Botany, the best ele- 

 mentary botanical work in the English language. 



Passing over rapaveraceae and Cruciferae, as having no 

 indigenous representatives in this flora, I shall in my next 

 proceed with Capparidese. 



