DOUBLE FLOWEES. 



471 



unlike most of the Eanunculaceae, is cyclic throughout, renders it easy 

 to see in what way the doubling is brought about. This genus is, 

 moreover, interesting in that we not only meet with the double form of 

 the type, but also with the double of the stellata variety, in which the 

 petals are flat without spurs. In the single the flower is composed of a 

 succession of many alternating whorls of five members each, so that 

 altogether they form an arrangement of ten radial rows. The calyx, 

 corolla, and pistil each contribute one whorl, the remainder being 

 composed of the numerous stamens. In a high-grade double normal 

 stamens are few or absent, and in their place we find an equivalent 

 number of structures resembling the petals in colour and shape and 

 arranged, like the stamens in the single, with perfect regularity in 

 alternating whorls. The fact that there is no disturbance in the 

 regular alteration o'f the whorls shows that these additional petals 

 merely represent an equivalent number oi stamens which have under- 

 gone petaloid transformation. We have here, in fact, a good example 

 of simple petalody affecting the male reproductive organs. As a 

 result little or no pollen can be got from such doubles, but the pistil 

 functions as usual. In the type form the spurs of all the petaloid 

 structures borne on the same radial row are inserted one within the 

 other, forming as it were a continuous kind of hose-in-hose arrange- 

 ment, in consequence of which the whole row is generally shed together 

 as one mass. (See fig. 169, e.) 



Besides the ordinary branching, tall form, a peculiar dwarf strain 

 is sometimes met with in which the very small and compact flower 

 stands erect or nearly so, instead of drooping as in the normal case. 

 Though O'f interest to the botanist on account of the association of a 

 particular habit with certain floral characteristics this form will 

 scarcely find favour with the florist. 



Though breeding experiments show that individuals exhibiting 

 either the double character or the stellata form can breed true it is 

 evident that neither in the case of doubling nor of absence of spurs is 

 the relation of the variation tO' the normal a simple one. For flowers 

 are found of every grade between the normal single at one end of the 

 series and the full double at the other, and similarly between the flower 

 with all the petals spurred and the flower with none. Not only so, but 

 flowers of very different grades may be borne on one individual at one 

 and the same time. In the case of the spurred character, moreover, 

 even the flower may be mixed, some of the petals being spurred and 

 some flat. There does not appear to be any obvious arrangement on 

 the plant either of the more and less double, or of the more and less 

 spurred flowers, and the nature and behaviour of these mixed indi- 

 viduals needs further investigation. No doubt crossing has gone on 

 repeatedly between the single spurred type and both varietal forms in 

 our gardens, for both have long been known to horticulturists.''' Bat 

 if the mixed character frequently observable is to be attributed wholly 

 to repeated inter-crossing the conditions of inheritance here must 

 * Both are figured and described by L'Obel (Krnydtboeck, 1581). 



