=Complete suppression of the flower.=--It is not necessary in this place to allude to that deficient production of flowers characteristic of what is termed by gardeners a "sky bloomer." In such plants often the requisite conditions are not complied with, and the skill of the gardener is shown in his attempt to discover and allow the plant to avail itself of the necessary requirements. We need here only allude to those instances in which provision is made for the production of flowers, and yet they are not produced. A good illustration of this is afforded by the feather-hyacinth, _Hyacinthus comosus_, in which the flowers are almost entirely suppressed, while the pedicels are inordinately increased in number, and their colour heightened. Something similar occurs in several allied species, and in _Bowiea volubilis_. The wig plant (_Rhus Cotinus_) affords another illustration of the same thing. Some tendrils also owe their appearance to the absence of flowers, being modified peduncles; proofs of this may frequently be met with in the case of the vine. In _Lamium album_ I have seen one of the verticillasters on one side of the stem completely wanting, the adjacent leaf being, however, as fully formed as usual. =General remarks on suppression.=--On comparing together the various whorls of the flower in reference to suppression, and, it may be added, to atrophy, we find that these phenomena occur most rarely in the calyx, more frequently in the corolla, and very often in the sexual organs and seeds; hence it would seem as if the uppermost and most central organs, those most subject to pressure and latest in date of development--formed, that is, when the formative energies of the plant are most liable to be exhausted--are the most prone to be suppressed or arrested in their development. When the plants in which these occurrences happen most frequently are compared together, it may be seen that partial or entire suppression of the floral envelopes, calyx, and corolla, is far more commonly met with in the polypetalous and hypogynous groups than in the gamopetalous or epigynous series. The orders in which suppression (speaking generally) occurs most often as a teratological occurrence are the following:--_Ranunculaceae_, _Cruciferae_, _Caryophyllaceae_, _Violaceae_, _Leguminosae_, _Onagraceae_, _Jasminaceae_, _Orchidaceae_. It will be observed that these are all orders wherein suppression of the whole or part of the outer floral whorls takes place in certain genera as a constant occurrence. Again, it may be remarked that many of these orders show a tendency towards a regular diminution of the assumed normal number of their parts; thus, among _Onagraceae_, _Circeia_ and _Lopezia_ may be referred to, the former normally dimerous, the latter having only one perfect petal. So in fuchsias, a very common deviation consists in a trimerous and rarely a dimerous symmetry of the flower.