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
=Cohesion of the petals.=--Linnaeus mentions the occurrence of cohesion
of the petals in _Saponaria.[26]_ Moquin notices a Rose in which the
petals were united into a long tube, their upper portions were free and
bent downwards, forming a sort of irregular limb. An instance of the
polypetalous regular perianth of _Clematis viticella_ being changed into
a monopetalous irregular one, like the corolla of Labiates, is recorded
by Jaeger.[27] There is in cultivation a variety of _Papaver
bracteatum_, in which the petals are united by their margins so as to
form a large cup. Under normal circumstances, the petals become fused
together by their edges along their whole extent, at the base only, at
the apex only, as in the Vine, or at the base and apex, leaving the
central portions detached. Indications of the junction of the petals may
generally be traced by the arrangement of the veins, or by the notches
or lobes left by imperfect union. In Crocuses I have frequently met with
cohesion of the segments of the perianth, by means of their surfaces,
but the union was confined to the centre of the segment, leaving the
rest of the surfaces free.
=Cohesion of the stamens.=--Under natural circumstances, cohesion of the
stamens is said to take place either by the union of their filaments, so
as to form one, two, or more parcels (Monadelphia, Diadelphia,
Polyadelphia); at other times, by the cohesion of the anthers
(Syngenesia), in which latter case the union is generally very slight.
It must be remembered, however, that the so-called cohesion of the
filaments is in many cases due rather to the formation of compound
stamens, _i.e._ to the formation from one original staminal tubercle of
numerous secondary ones, so that the process is rather one of over
development than of fusion or of disjunction. These conditions may be
met with as accidental occurrences in plants or in flowers, not usually
showing this arrangement. Thus, for instance, Professor Andersson, of
Stockholm, describes a monstrosity of _Salix calyculata_, in which the
stamens were so united together as to form a tube open at the top like a
follicle.[28] This is an exaggerated degree of that fusion which exists
normally in _Salix monandra_, in Cucurbits and other plants.
=Cohesion of the pistils= is also of very frequent occurrence in plants,
under ordinary circumstances, but is less commonly met with than might
have been expected as a teratological phenomenon.
Further details relating to cohesion of the various parts of
the flower are cited in Moquin-Tandon, 'El. Ter. Veg.,' p. 248;
'Weber. Verhandl. Nat. Hist. Vereins f. d. Preuss. Rheinl. und
Westphal.,' 1860, p. 332, tabs. 6 et 7.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account