CHAP. II. 
OVARY. 
201 
second carpel, when added, does not arise by the side of the 
first, but opposite to it, the face of its placenta being in front 
of that of the habitual carpel. A fourth proof of this uniform 
direction of the placentae towards the axis is afforded by 
those pistils in which a great number of carpels is developed 
in several rows, as in the Strawberry and the Ranunculus : 
in all these the placentae will be, without exception, found 
directed towards the axis, and consequently towards the 
123 back of every row, except the in- 
ner. For example, in the follow- 
ing diagram (123.), let o be the 
axis, b h placentae, c c the backs of 
carpels ; the placentae, b of the 
inner row will be next the centre 
o ; the placentae, b of the second 
row will be next the backs, c c, of 
the first row' ; and so on. 
If the order of developement of 
leaves w’ere exactly followed in that of the stamens and car- 
124 pels, it would happen that the latter 
would be invariably alternate with 
the inner row of stamens ; for, if <2 « 
(Jiff. 124.) are the stations of five sta- 
mens, b b would be the situations of 
the carpels : this relative position is 
therefore considered the normal one, 
and is in fact that which usually 
exists in perfectly regular flowers; 
but as all the parts of a flower, 
in consequence of the non-developement of some parts, or 
the excessive developement of others, are subject to devia- 
tions, either real or apparent, from what is considered their 
normal state, it frequently happens that the carpels either 
bear no apparent relation to the stamens or are opposite to 
them. In papilionaceous plants, for example, where only 
one carpel is present, it is difficult to say that it bears any 
exact relation to the stamens, although it is probable that its 
position is really normal with regard to them ; and so also in 
rosaceous plants, with numerous carpels, no exact relation 
