W. C. Wars dell- 
46 
Celakovsky points out the following facts as proving the latter to 
he the original form. When a typically coloured corolla is present 
the calyx is usually, or very often, green and bract-like; when the 
corolla is represented by inconspicuous nectaries or staminodes the 
calyx is seen to exhibit the attractive characters typical of the 
petals. This latter fact is aptly and beautifully illustrated in the 
relation which a South American species of Ranunculus, R. apiifolius 
Pers. (Aphanostemnia), holds to the other species of the genus. In 
most species, as in R. acris, a well-developed coloured corolla is 
present, and the calyx is green ; but in the South American species 
the petals are represented by extremely small, sub-bilabiate stami- 
nodial structures greatly resembling the nectaries of Xanthorrliiza , 
while, in distinct correlation therewith, the calyx is more or less 
petaloid in character. The occurrence of a similar petaloid calyx in 
conjunction with a staminodial corolla is seen in many species of 
Hclleborus (H. viridis and a few others, with their green calyx, fur¬ 
nishing an exception to the rule), in Nigella, Eranthis, Xanthorrliiza , 
Coptis, and very strikingly in Delphinium and Aconitum, where the 
(in most cases) blue-coloured calyx admirably simulates, in its 
zygomorphic character and adaptability to the visits of insects, the 
highly modified zygomorphic corollas of many of the more advanced 
orders of plants. 
Now, on the view we are considering, the staminodes are 
necessarily of earlier origin than the typically coloured petals 
because more nearly related to the stamens, and derived from the 
latter ; hence it follow’s that the petaloid calyx (the almost constant 
accompaniment of these staminodes) must be of earlier origin than 
the green calyx of Ranunculus acris, &c., and that of most 
Dicotyledons. 
Finally, we may call into view another set of phenomena which 
are exhibited by the interesting genus Anemone. Our own obser¬ 
vations shew that in some species, as A. virginiana, A.pennsylvanica, 
and A. ranunculoides there is a single perianth-whorl of five 
coloured leaves, these being arranged, as in Calthce, &c., in a two- 
fifth spiral (fig. 9), the perianth is thus 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 
shewn 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 the Common Wood 
Anemone, two whorls of three or four members each. A. sylvestris 
affords a transitional case, where the five sepals are, as it were, 
hesitating w r hether to be whorled or spirally arranged on the axis. 
