VEGETABLE MORPHOLOGY. 
416 
deny that irregularity of the growth, as exemplified in the specimen 
exhibited at the meeting alluded to, is a consequence of high cultiva¬ 
tion, or of any derangement effected by art; on the contrary, they con¬ 
sider such aberration of the growth as a true indication of the real 
character of vegetable membrane. “A plant,” say they, " is com¬ 
pounded of root, stem, and leaves, and many plants live for years 
without exhibiting any other member or organ whatever ; but, in the 
case of a pear-tree, if it receive any check, whether by art or accident, 
so that the shoots cease to lengthen, the leaves, which would have other¬ 
wise been developed at considerable distances from each other, become 
crowded together on the point of the shoot, and there become meta¬ 
morphosed ; the outer ones changing into involucrums, or bractea, or 
calyces and corollas, and the inner ones transformed into stamens and 
pistils: and thus a beautiful flower is exhibited, followed by a 
pulpy fruit containing the seeds. But should the lengthening tendency 
of the shoot be not wholly arrested by this metamorphosis, it is con¬ 
tinued onwards, and appears above the place, as was shown at the 
meeting of the Horticultural Society.” 
The gravamen of the above representation is briefly this:—Roots, 
stems, and leaves are the primary and rudimental organs, or organised 
material, of the plant, out of which all other members, whether simply 
foliaceous, fiorescent, or fructiferous, are fortuitously formed, expanded, 
and matured; hence a fair inference is deducible, namely, that spines, 
prickles, stipulas, bractea, calyces, corollas, stamens, disks, pistils, and 
seeds, have no rudimental identity in the system, but are merely the 
results of accidental circumstances. 
The abettors of this physiological doctrine do not endeavour to prove 
it by showing that leaves are transmutable into the various members of 
a flower, which would be the direct and logical line of argument; but, 
conversely, by showing that these members are occasionally changed 
into leaves, concluding therefrom that their normal or original condition 
must have been that of simple leaves. 
That a party-coloured foliar expansion is sometimes seen on the stem 
or scape of a tulip, which is neither a proper leaf nor a petal, is well 
known : that there are many proliferous, and thousands of monstrous 
flowers and fruit, is indisputable. All these instances of exuberant 
growth are called irregular metamorphoses, and the ordinary develop¬ 
ment of plants is called regular metamorphosis ; in other words, when 
certain circumstances occur, the leaves are suddenly changed into 
flowers and fruit. 
This branch of the science of botany having been adopted by a great 
majority of the leading botanists of the day, gives the doctrine itself a 
