

GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 25 
seeds, whilst they differ from the newly-developed bud (Auge) in being 
concealed within a seed-vessel, and from the more mature bud (Gemma) 
in the discernible cause of their formation and subsequent separation 
from the parent-plant, are yet nearly related to the bud at each of these 
periods. 
XIV. On the Formation of Composite Flowers and Fruits. 
94. We have thus far endeavoured to explain by the transformation 
of the stem-leaves,* the formation of solitary flowers, and also of those 
seeds which are produced within a closely adherent covering. It will 
appear, on a careful examination, that in these instances the (axillary) 
buds are absent, and that, on the contrary, the possibility of such a de- 
velopment is altogether out of the question. But in explaining Com- 
posite flowers and fruits (whether the receptacle be conical, cylindrical, 
discoidal, or of any other form), we must look to the development of 
buds for assistance. 
95. Now we commonly see stems which, instead of reserving their 
energy and making a long preparation for the production of a single 
(terminal) flower, develope blossoms at their nodes, and proceed uni- 
formly in this manner to the very tip. But the phenomenon thus shown 
is susceptible of explanation by the theory propounded above. All 
flowers developed from axillary buds are to be regarded as perfect 
plants, situated in the same way on the parent-plant as the parent-plant 
is situated in the soil. But as the juices received from the nodes are in a 
refined state, the very first leaves of a little branch are much more de. 
fined in shape, than the earliest leaves which, in the parent-plant, im- 
mediately succeed the cotyledons; nay, even the immediate formation 
of the calyx and corolla may not unfrequently occur. 
96. Even the blossoms thus produced from (axillary) buds would 
have become branches by a more copious supply of nourishment; and 
in their turn parent-stems to another set of buds. 
97. During the successive development of such blossoms at the 
nodes, we perceive the same change taking place in the stem-leaves 
which we before observed during the slow transitional process by which 
* Had Goethe written “ modification,” his theory would not have met with so 
much opposition. 
+ Ihe flowers are occasionally more or less replaced by branches. See Lindley’s 
“ Elements of Botany,’ p. 62; Moquin-Tandon, ‘ Tératologie Végétale,’ p. 366, etc. 
(Plate, Fig. 8.) | 

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