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
This condition accords precisely with the account of the development of
the flowers in _Pomaceae_ as given by Payer, Caspary, and others, so that
the flowers above described would owe their deficiency of the swollen
receptacle to an arrest of development. M. Germain de Saint Pierre,
among other malformations of the rose, presented to the Botanical
Society of France in 1854[86] two specimens which are of special
interest as relating to this contested point. In the one, the swollen
portion beneath the flower was surmounted by five perfect leaves, as,
indeed, is not infrequent in such malformations; here, then, the calyx
could have had little or no share in the production of the swelling in
question. In the other, the swollen portion was actually above the
insertion of the sepals here represented by five perfect leaves.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Section through Apple blossom, showing
detachment of calyx from ovaries, absence of dilated flower-stalk, &c.]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Calyx detached from carpels in Apple.]
On the other hand, M. Planchon's specimen of the Quince before alluded
to, not to mention other instances, tends to show that the bases of the
sepals do sometimes enter into the composition of the pome. And, indeed,
in many of these cases it would be impossible to say where the axial or
receptacular portion ended, and the foliar portion began. As both from
normal organogeny as well as from unusual conformation contradictory
inferences may be drawn, it would obviously be unsafe to attempt the
explanation of the so-called calyx-tube in general from any particular
instances; so far as _Rosaceae_ are concerned, there is so much variation
in the relative position of calyx and carpels under ordinary
circumstances, that it is no matter for surprise that similar
diversities should exist in teratological cases. A similar remark will
apply to _Saxifragaceae_, _Cucurbitaceae_, _Myrtaceae_, _Bruniaceae_,
_Rubiaceae_, and other families of like conformation.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Flower of _OEnanthe crocata_, in which the
five sepals were completely detached from the ovaries, here three in
number and destitute of stylopods.]
In _Umbelliferae_, a detachment of the calyx from the ovaries frequently
occurs, sometimes without any other change; at other times attended by
more serious alterations. So far as can be judged from exceptional
occurrences of this kind, it would appear that in this order the axis or
flower-stalk does not, in any material degree, enter into the
composition of the fruit.
In the Rubiaceous genus _Bikkhia_, as mentioned by Duchartre, the ovary
is completely inferior, but when the fruit arrives at maturity four
small leaves are detached from its surface which had previously adhered
to it, and which it seems reasonable to consider as the sepals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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