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
=Polyphylly of the flower in general.=--Although, for the sake of
convenience, multiplication has here been treated of as it affects the
members of individual whorls of the flower, yet it must be remembered
that, in general, the augmentation is not confined to one whorl, but
affects several; thus, if the sepals are increased, the petals are
likely to be so likewise, and so forth. One of the most curious
illustrations of this is that recorded by Mr. Berkeley[414] in a plum,
wherein there was an increased number of sepals, a corresponding
augmentation in the petals, while the pistil was composed of two and
sometimes three carpels distinct from the calyx and from each other. In
the flowers there did not appear to be any definite relation in the
position of the parts either with reference one to another or to the
axis.
[Illustration: FIG. 186.--Plum. Increased number of parts in the
calycine, corolline, and carpellary whorls respectively.]
In _Primulaceae_ this general augmentation has been frequently
noticed.[415]
Among _Orchideae_ the instance related by Dr. Seubert is worth alluding
to here. This botanist observed and figured a flower of _Orchis
palustris_ with tetramerous arrangement of parts, that is to say there
were four outer segments to the perianth, four petals, of which two
were lip-like, four stamens, three of which were rudimentary, and an
ovary with four parietal placentae.[416]
The following list will serve to show in what plants this general
augmentation of parts has been observed most frequently:
Ranunculus.
Clematis!
Delphinium.
Brassica!
Ruta.
Acer!
Prunus!
Rosa!
Rubus.
Philadelphus!
Chrysosplenium.
Umbelliferae, sp. pl.!
*Fuchsia!
OEnothera.
Adoxa.
Bryonia.
Cucumis!
Campanula!
Sambucus!
*Primula!
Anagallis!
Lycium.
Solanum.
Symphytum.
Syringa!
Linaria.
Chenopodium.
*Paris!
Convallaria!
Allium.
*Lilium!
*Tulipa!
Ornithogalum.
*Gagea!
Tradescantia!
Orchideae, sp. pl.!
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