12 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
45. There is great probability in the opinion that the colour and 
scent of the petals is to be ascribed to the presence of pollen within 
them ; it probably exists in them in an imperfectly disengaged state ; or 
rather, combined with, and diluted by, other fluids. The very beauty of 
the colours induces the idea that the substance contained in the petals, 
though in an extremely purified condition, has not yet, attained the 
very highest degree of purity; at which stage it appears white and colour- 
less.* 
VI. On the Formation of the S'amens. 
46. The opinion alluded to in the last paragraph will appear still 
more probable, when we consider the close connection which exists be- 
tween the petals and the stamens. If the connection between all the 
other organs were as obvious, as universally noticed, and considered as 
indubitable, the present essay might be thought superfluous. 
47. Some plants normally produce their petals in a transitional 
State ; as Canna, and other plants of the same family. In this instance 
a true petal, but slightly changed, is contracted at the upper part, and 
exhibits an anther; in relation to which the rest of the petal stands in 
the place of the filament. 
48. In those flowers whose habit it is to become double, we may 
trace this transition through all its different stages. In Roses, among 
perfect coloured petals, others may often be seen which are contracted 
both in the middle and at the side. This is occasioned by a little 
protuberance more or less resembling a perfect anther; and in the same 
proportion the whole petal assumes the form of a stamen. In the case 
of many double Poppies, some of the petals of the very double corolla 
* Tn accidental cases, where the petals assume more or less the appearance of sta- 
meus, or vice versd, the pollen may be said to be in the petal; and in the common 
Mistletoe the inner surface of the flower has numerous small depressions in whieh 
the pollen is lodged ; but it seems little better than a fancy to attribute the colour and 
Scent, of the petals of an ordinary flower to the pollen contained within them... The 
true cause of these phenomena is very imperfectly known; coloured liquids in the cells 
of the petals are in many cases the source of the colour ; and volatile oils contribute 
the exe eases to their odour; but for the most part we are ignorant of the cause of 
—— perfume of some plants. 
_t The flowers of Canna have three sepals, an irregular corolla in five or six di- 
visious ; the whole of the stamens are replaced by petals, with the exception of one 
half-anther placed on the side of a petaloid filament. The style, which in the adult 
Ead is simple and flattened like a petal, offers in its earliest condition three. small 
darius corresponding to the three carpels of the ovary, (See Barnéoud, Ann. des 
+ Nat. 3rd ser. Bot. viii. p. 344.) See the Plate, Fig. 4, 5, a, b. 
