Vegetable Teratology / An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants

by Maxwell T. Masters

Meiotaxy of the parts of the flower in general.—In the preceding sections suppression has been considered as it affected individual members of a whorl or separate whorls. It rarely happens, however, that the suppression is limited in this way. More generally several of the parts of the flower are simultaneously affected in the same manner.

A few illustrations are all that is necessary to give as to this point.

One of the most familiar instances is that of the cauliflower or broccoli, where the common flower-stalk is inordinately thickened and fleshy, while the corolla and inner parts of the flower are usually entirely suppressed; the four sepals can, however, generally be detected.

Maximowicz describes a Stellaria (Kraschenikovia) in which the upper flowers are male only, while the lower ones, which ultimately become buried in the soil, have neither petals, stamens, nor styles, but the walls of the capsule are fleshy, and enclose numerous seeds.[486]

Kirschleger[487] mentions a variety of Lonicera Caprifolium, which was not only destitute of petals but of stamens also.

In some species of Muscari and Bellevalia the uppermost flowers of the raceme show more or less complete suppression of almost all the part of which the flower normally consists. In those cases where an imperfect perianth exists, but in which the stamens and pistils are entirely suppressed, Morren applies the term Cenanthy, κενος, empty.

Complete suppression of the flower.—It is not necessary in this place to allude to that deficient production of flowers characteristic of what is termed by gardeners a "sky bloomer." In such plants often the requisite conditions are not complied with, and the skill of the gardener is shown in his attempt to discover and allow the plant to avail itself of the necessary requirements. We need here only allude to those instances in which provision is made for the production of flowers, and yet they are not produced. A good illustration of this is afforded by the feather-hyacinth, Hyacinthus comosus, in which the flowers are almost entirely suppressed, while the pedicels are inordinately increased in number, and their colour heightened. Something similar occurs in several allied species, and in Bowiea volubilis. The wig plant (Rhus Cotinus) affords another illustration of the same thing. Some tendrils also owe their appearance to the absence of flowers, being modified peduncles; proofs of this may frequently be met with in the case of the vine.

In Lamium album I have seen one of the verticillasters on one side of the stem completely wanting, the adjacent leaf being, however, as fully formed as usual.

General remarks on suppression.—On comparing together the various whorls of the flower in reference to suppression, and, it may be added, to atrophy, we find that these phenomena occur most rarely in the calyx, more frequently in the corolla, and very often in the sexual organs and seeds; hence it would seem as if the uppermost and most central organs, those most subject to pressure and latest in date of development—formed, that is, when the formative energies of the plant are most liable to be exhausted—are the most prone to be suppressed or arrested in their development. When the plants in which these occurrences happen most frequently are compared together, it may be seen that partial or entire suppression of the floral envelopes, calyx, and corolla, is far more commonly met with in the polypetalous and hypogynous groups than in the gamopetalous or epigynous series.