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
Sometimes the displacement seems consequent on hypertrophy of one of the
parts of the flower, the disproportionate size of one organ pushing the
others out of place. This was the case in a violet, fig. 50, in which
one of the sepals _s_ was greatly thickened, and the petals and stamens
were displaced in consequence.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Plan of flower of violet showing displacement
of petals, &c. At _b_ was a rudiment of a stamen.]
It is curious to observe in many of these cases that the transposed
organ not only occupies the place of a suppressed or abortive organ,
but frequently assumes its colour, and, to some extent, its function.
This has been alluded to in the case of the leaf of _Gesnera_ (see p.
88) and in Orchids this replacement seems to be very common; thus, in
addition to the cases before mentioned, in a flower of an Odontoglossum,
for which I am indebted to Professor Oliver, the two lateral sepals were
united together and occupied the position of the labellum, which was
absent. A similar occurrence happens occasionally in _Lycaste Skinneri_,
thus recalling the structure of _Masdevallia_, where the labellum is
normally very small. The arrangement in Lycaste may thus be symbolised:
S
P st P
+
S S
___
[Transcriber's note: The underscores represent a horizontal curly brace
in the original.]
the + indicating the position of the absent labellum.
Cases of this kind are the more interesting from their relation to the
fertilization of these flowers by insects; it seems as though, when the
labellum, which performs so important an office in attracting and
guiding insects, is deficient, its place is supplied by other means.
Displacement of the parts of the flower from elongation of the
receptacle is a not infrequent teratological occurrence, resulting
sometimes in the conversion of the verticillate into the spiral
arrangement. Instances of this are cited under Elongation,
Prolification, &c. In this place it is merely necessary to refer to a
curious circumstance that is met with in some double flowers, owing to
this separation of some parts of the flower and the cohesion or adhesion
of others. Thus, in some double flowers of _Primula sinensis_ and in the
Pea (_Pisum sativum_), I have seen a gradual passage of sepals to
petals, so that the calyx and corolla formed one continuous sheet,
winding spirally around the central axis of the flower, after the
fashion of a spiral tube.[98]
=Displacement of the carpels= arises from one or other of the causes
above alluded to, and when suppression takes place in this whorl it
generally happens that the place of the suppressed organ is occupied by
one of the remaining ones, which thus becomes partially dislocated.
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