In the apple a dilatation of the flower-stalk below the ordinary fruit may occasionally be observed, thus giving rise to the appearance of two fruits superposed and separated one from the other by a constriction. (See fig. 176, p. 327.) The lower swelling is entirely axial in these cases, as no trace of carpels is to be seen. M. Carriere[490] mentions an instance wherein from the base of one apple projected a second smaller one, destitute of carpels, but surmounted by calyx-lobes as usual. The direction of this supernumerary apple was the exact opposite of that of the primary fruit. [Illustration: FIG. 204.--Monstrous pear, showing extension and swelling of axis, &c.] In pears, quinces, and apples, a not uncommon deviation is one in which the axis is prolonged beyond the ordinary fruit, like which it is much swollen. Occasionally the axis is not only prolonged, but even ramifies, the branches partaking of the succulent character of the ordinary pome. Such instances are frequently classed under the head of prolification, but they have in general no claim to be considered in this light, for the reasons already given in the chapter relating to that subject. (See p. 135.)[491] A very curious illustration of hypertrophy of the flower-stalk is recorded and figured by M. Carriere[492] in the cherry. The calyx in these fruits was completely superior, the succulent portion of the fruit being made up of the dilated extremity of the peduncle, and possibly in part of the base of the calyx. The general appearance was thus that of a crab-apple. There was no stone in the interior, but simply a rudimentary kernel or seed.[493] Moquin-Tandon records an instance in which the stamens of each individual flower in the inflorescence of a vine were hypertrophied, the sepals, petals, and other organs of the flower, being proportionately diminished.[494] In this place may also be mentioned the hypertrophied condition of the placenta observed by Alphonse de Candolle in a species of _Solanum_, and also in a species of _Melastoma_. Not only was the placenta unusually large in these flowers, but it also protruded beyond the ovary.[495] A similar state of things in _Lobelia_ and _Cuphea_ has already been alluded to under the head of Alterations of Direction (p. 210).