‘^"Much discussion/’ says Dr. Lindley, in the 
Botanical Register, has taken place within a few 
years among botanists as to the real nature of the 
parts which constitute the very irregular flower of 
a Balsam. According to Roper and others, the 
two membranous external scales, and the spur, 
alone belong to the calyx, of which the two other 
sepals are usually deficient on that side of the flower 
which is opposite the spur ; on the other hand, the 
corolla consists of the large upper or back-piece, 
and of the two lateral inner wings, each of which 
last consists of two petals; and this view has been 
adopted by me in the Natural System of Botany, 
page 138.” 
^^Achille Richard considers the two smaller ex- 
terior scales, together with the spurred and the back 
interior pieces, as forming a four-leaved calyx, 
while he regards the two innermost lobed pieces as 
two pairs of petals of a four-leaved corolla. Bern- 
hard! regards the exterior scales as bracts, the spur 
and the back piece as the calyx, the other parts 
of it being rudimentary or missing.” 
^^Kunth considers the large back piece of the 
flower to be composed of two sepals, and together 
with the spur and exterior scales to form a five- 
leaved calyx ; while he finds in the two inner- 
most parts a corolla of four petals, united in pairs, 
and he assumes the fifth petal to be abortive. 
This opinion has been adopted by Arnott, in 1833, 
and by Presl,in 1836; the latter having discovered 
the fifth petal to be sometimes present in the garden 
Balsam.” These are speculations not unworthy the 
attention of the scientific morphologist. 
