Vegetable Teratology Part 33

Persica vulgaris.

Cerasus!

Pyrus Malus.

Daucus Carota.

Athamanta Cervaria.

*Trifolium repens!

Centranthus macrosiphon.

Tragopogon pratense.

orientale.

Scorzonera octangularis.

Hypochaeris radicata.

*Senecio vulgaris!

Podospermum laciniatum.

Cirsium arvense.

Carduus heterophyllus tataricus.

Campanula, sp.

Convolvulus sepium.

*Primula officinalis, var. cult!

acaulis.

elatior.

Gentiana campestris.

*Petunia violacea!

Lycium europaeum.

Laurus Sa.s.safras.

Tulipa Gesneriana.

Convallaria maialis.

Colchic.u.m autumnale! (virescent?)

Consult also Turpin, 'Atlas de Goethe,' t. iv, f. 12, _Lycium_.

Engelmann, 'De Anthol.,' -- 35, p. 31. This author figures phyllodic sepals in _Senecio vulgaris_, tab. v, figs. 24-26; _Campanula_, tab. iii, f. 15, 16; _Athamanta cervaria_, tab. v, f. 14. Lindley, 'Elements of Botany,' 1847, pp. 64, 73, &c.

'Gard. Chron.,' 1858, p. 685; 1859, p. 654, _Cucurbita_.

Petunnikoff, 'Bull. Soc. Imp. Moscow,' 1862, _Cirsium_. Braun, 'Rejuvenescence,' Ray Society's Transl. See succeeding paragraphs.

=Phyllody of the corolla.=--The petals also are frequently replaced by leaves, though in many of the recorded instances the change has been one of colour only; these latter are strictly cases of virescence. M.

Seringe[259] speaks of a flower of _Peltaria alliacea_ in which the calyx was petal-like, while the corolla was leafy as if there had been transposition of the two organs, a very rare, if not unparalleled, instance. In a flower of _Campanula Medium_, provided, as is often the case, with a double corolla, the outer corolla was slit down on one side, the edges of the cleft being leafy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 133.--Sepals and petals to leaves. _Geranium_.]

The frondescent petals are very often completely disjoined, as in _Verbasc.u.m nigrum_, and _Lonicera Periclymenum_, in which, moreover, median prolification generally coexists. In the case of _Tropaeolum majus_, the ordinary leaves of which are peltate and orbicular, the petals when frondescent have not the peltate arrangement, but are spathulate, and provided with very long, narrow stalks, so that, in some cases, they are, more properly speaking, enlarged virescent petals than true leaves; in other instances, however, the arrangement of the veins is more like that of the true leaves than that of the petals.

As might be expected, frondescence of the petals is frequently accompanied by other changes of a similar nature in other parts of the flower, and sometimes by the abortion of the s.e.xual organs. Thus, in _Actaea spicata_, as observed by Fresenius, the petals were replaced by true petiolate, palminerved, lobed leaves, the stamens and pistils being abortive. In _Ranunculus_ the leaves that appear in the place of the petals have no scale at their base, and in _Tropaeolum_ the calyx (or receptacle) is free from the usual spur.

The absolute frequency of this occurrence seems to be greatest in those flowers which are normally polypetalous. The petals of these flowers, as a general rule, are more like the leaf-sheaths than the leaf-blades as to their venation, hence it would seem that the phyllomorphic condition in these petals is a manifestation of a greater degree of organizing force than that which occurs in those cases where the petals are normally present in the form of contracted blades or laminae. (See the remarks in the preceding section.)

Frondescence of the petals has been observed most frequently in the following cases; some, perhaps, were cases merely of virescence, q. v.; see also under Chloranthy, Prolification.

Ranunculus repens!

Delphinium Ajacis.

cra.s.sicaule.

Aquilegia vulgaris.

Actaea spicata.

*Bra.s.sica oleracea!

Diplotaxis muralis.

Hesperis matronalis.

Thlaspi bursa pastoris.

Sisymbrium tenuifolium.

Turritis glabra.

Rapha.n.u.s sativus.

Peltaria alliacea.

Alyssum incanum.

Erysimum Barbarea.

officinale!

cheiranthoides.

Cheiranthus Cheiri.

*Dictamnus Fraxinella!

Lychnis sylvestris.

dioica!

Alsine media.

Cerastium vulgatum!

triviale.

Reseda lutea.

Phyteuma.

Malva sylvestris.

*Tropaeolum majus!

Geranium, sp.!

Triumfetta, sp.!

Epilobium hirsutum!

OEnothera striata.

Rubus, sp.

*Rosa, var. cult.!

*Trifolium repens!

Spiraea oblongifolia.

Amygdalus communis.

*Rosa!

Cerasus vulgaris!

Persica vulgaris!

Potentilla nepalensis.

Geum rivale.

Daucus Carota!

Heracleum Sphondylium.

Torilis Anthriscus.

Echinophora maritima.

Campanula rapunculoides.

glomerata.

Phyteuma spicatum.

Calendula officinalis.

Cirsium tricephalodes.

Senecio vulgaris.

Scabiosa columbaria.

agrestis.