Fig. 190.—Double white lily. Multiplication of perianth-segments and other changes.
Pleiotaxy of the corolla.—With reference to double flowers, it was remarked by Linné that polypetalous flowers were, as he said, multiplied, while monopetalous flowers were duplicated, or triplicated, as the case may be,[435] a statement that is true in the main, though it requires modification. In the case of polypetalous, or rather dialypetalous flowers, the petals may be very largely increased by multiplication, as in roses, anemones, pinks, &c. In the last-named genus the number is often so much increased that the calyx splits from the tension exercised on it by the increasing mass within. This multiplication may happen without any metamorphy or substitution of petals for stamens, though, in the majority of cases, it is associated with such a change. It is curious to observe in some of these flowers that the total number of parts is not greatly increased; thus, in some of the double-flowered Leguminosæ, such as Ulex europæus and Lotus corniculatus, the petals are repeated once or twice, the stamens are petalodic, but reduced in number, while the carpels are usually entirely wanting. Thus, owing to the diminished number of parts in the inner whorls of the flower, these very double-looking blooms do not contain any greatly increased number of parts.[436]
Flowers that, under ordinary circumstances, are gamopetalous, become, in some instances, multiplied by the formation of additional segments, just as in the case of polypetalous corollas; but in these cases the corollas become polypetalous, their petals do not cohere one with another. Among double flowers of this character may be mentioned Campanula rotundifolia, Gardenia sp., Nerium Oleander, Serissa sp., Arbutus Unedo, &c. The change is associated with petalody of the stamens and pistils.
A more frequent change among the monopetalous orders is the duplication or triplication of the corolla, in consequence of which there appear to be a series of corollas enclosed one within the other, the lobes of which generally alternate with one another, but which sometimes are superposed. This happens occasionally in the primrose (Primula acaulis), and constitutes the variety called by the gardeners "hose in hose."
The same condition occurs frequently in some species of Datura and Campanula.
