the vegetable marrow on a common stalk, the
flowers themselves being only united at the extreme base. Occasionally
cases may be met with wherein the pedicels of a stalked flower become
adherent to the side of a sessile flower. I have noticed this commonly
in _Umbelliferae_. Union of this kind occurs frequently in the common
cornel (_Cornus_), wherein one of the lower flowers becomes adherent to
one of the upper ones. In De Candolle's 'Organographie Vegetale,' Plates
14 and 15, are figured cases of fusion of the flower stems of the
Hyacinth and of a _Centaurea_. In other cases the union involves not
only the stalk but the flowers themselves; thus fusion of the flowers is
a common accompaniment of fasciation, as was the case in the _Campanula_
figured in the cut (fig. 14).

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Synanthic flowers of _Campanula medium_.]

Synanthy may take place without much derangement of the structure of
either flower, or the union may be attended with abortion or suppression
of some of the parts of one or both flowers. Occasionally this union is
carried to such an extent that a bloom appears to be single, when it is,
in reality, composed of two or more, the parts of which have become not
only fused, but, as it were, thrust into and completely incorporated one
with another, and in such a manner as to occupy the place of some parts
of the flower which have been suppressed. It must not be overlooked that
this adhesion of one flower to another is a very common occurrence under
natural circumstances, as in _Lonicera_, in the common tomato, in
_Pomax_, _Opercularia_, _Symphyomyrtus_, &c., while the large size of
some of the cultivated sunflowers is in like manner due to the union of
two or more flower-heads.

One of the simplest instances of synanthy is that mentioned by M.
Duchartre,[41] in which two flowers of a hyacinth were united together
simply by means of two segments of the perianth one from each flower. A
similar occurrence has been cited by M. Gay in _Narcissus chrysanthus_.
In like manner the blossoms of Fuchsias or Loniceras occasionally become
adherent merely by their surface, without involving any other change in
the conformation of the flowers. M. Maugin alludes to a case of this
kind in _Aristolochia Clematitis_.[42]

But it is more usual for some of the organs to be suppressed, so that
the number of existing parts is less than would be the case in two or
more uncombined flowers. A few illustrations will