Vegetable Teratology: An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of PlantsMasters, Maxwell T. (Maxwell Tylden)
Science
Vegetable Teratology: An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
Masters, Maxwell T. (Maxwell Tylden)
Plants -- Abnormalities
In the flowers of the Rose the stamens exhibited almost every
conceivable gradation between their ordinary form and that of the
carpels, while some of the ovules contained pollen in greater or less
abundance. Speaking generally, the most common state of things in these
flowers was the occurrence on the throat of the calyx, in the position
ordinarily occupied by the stamens, and sometimes mingled with those
organs, of twisted, ribbon-like filaments, which bore about the centre
one or more pendulous, anatropous ovules on their margins. Immediately
above the latter organs were the anther-lobes, more or less perfectly
developed, and surmounting these a long style, terminating in a fringed,
funnel-shaped stigma. Sometimes the ovules were perfect, at other times
the nucleus protruded through the foramen, while in a third set the
nucleus was included within the tegument, the ovules having in all
respects their natural external conformation, containing, however, not
only pollen-grains, but also a layer of those peculiar spheroidal cells,
including a fibrous deposit, which are among the normal constituents of
the anther. In one case, where the coat of the ovule was imperfect, and
allowed the nucleus to protrude, the pollen was evidently contained
within the central mass of the structure. In this instance the fibrous
cells were not detected, these being only found in cases where the
investment of the ovule was perfect; and hence it seems likely that the
fibrous cells were part of the coat of the ovule, while the pollen was
formed within the nucleus. In no case was any trace of embryo sac to be
seen.
The main interest, as Mr. Salter remarks, in these cases is
physiological; so far as structure alone is concerned, there does not
appear any reason why pollen-grains should not be developed in any
portion of the plant; the mother cells in which the pollen is formed not
differing, to all outward appearance, from any other cells, unless it be
in size.
The fundamental unity of construction in all the organs of plants could
hardly be better illustrated than by these cases; while, in spite of
their exceptional nature, they must be of great interest
physiologically, as showing the wide limits of possible variation which
thus may even involve the sex, "for an ovule to develop pollen within
its interior," says Mr. Salter, "is equivalent to an ovum in an animal
being converted into a capsule of spermatozoa. It is a conversion of
germ into sperm, the most complete violation of individuality and unity
of sex. * * * * The occurrence of an antheroid ovule and a normal ovule
on the same carpellary leaf realises the simplest and the most absolute
form of hermaphroditism."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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