=Solution of the calyx from the ovary.=--Of all the instances of adhesion which take place under ordinary circumstances, that between the calyx and the ovary is perhaps the most common. The _calyx adhaerens_ or _superus_ is a structural characteristic to which all botanists attach considerable importance; so that when exceptional cases occur in which the calyx becomes detached from the ovary, becomes, that is, _inferus_ or _liber_, a proportionate degree of interest attaches to the irregularity. It is not within the scope of the present work to inquire whether this detachment be real or merely apparent, arising from a want of union between parts ordinarily united together. This point must be left to the organogenists to decide in each particular case. So also the question as to what share, if any, the expanded and dilated flower-stalk may take in what are usually called inferior ovaries, can be here only incidentally touched upon. Among _Rosaceae_, the change in question is very common, especially in conjunction with an elongation of the axis of the flower (apostasis) and with prolification, though it is by no means always co-existent with these malformations. When this alteration in the apparent relative position of calyx and carpels occurs in roses (_Rosa_) the appearances are generally such as to indicate that the "hip" of the rose is a dilatation of the peduncle, continuous above with the coherent bases of the sepals; this inference seems also to be borne out by what happens in the _Pomaceae_. In some cases in this sub-order, the calyx becomes detached from the carpels, so that the latter organs become more or less "superior," and distinct one from the other. This happens constantly in the double-flowered thorn, _Crataegus Oxyacantha_, in some blossoms of which the hollowed end of the peduncle still invests the base of the carpels, leaving the upper portions detached. In apples flowers are occasionally met with of greater size than usual and on longer stalks, so that the whole looks more like a rose than an apple blossom. In these cases it will usually be found that the calyx consists of distinct sepals, without a trace of the ordinary swelling beneath the flower. The petals are often more numerous than usual; the stamens variously changed, and the carpels sometimes absent; at other times, as in the instance figured in the adjacent woodcuts, figs. 36, 37, consisting of separate, superior ovaries, sometimes destitute of ovules, or, at other times, having two of these bodies.[85] [Illustration: FIG. 35.--Proliferous Rose. Showing an absence of the usual dilatation of the flower-stalk, and other changes.]