as in the case of the gynophore, &c., or into the cavity of the carpels,
as in the instances of free central placentation. To bear out this
assertion, the following instances taken from those genera having
definite inflorescence, and which are very commonly affected with
prolification, may be cited; thus, in _Anemone_ and _Ranunculus_ the
thalamus is prolonged to bear the numerous carpels; in _Dianthus_ there
is a marked internode separating the carpels from the other parts of the
flower; in _Primulaceae_ central prolification is very common, and this
is one of the orders where the placenta seems from the researches of
Duchartre and others, to be truly a production of the axis within the
carpels;[123] in _Thesium_ also, another genus with free central
placenta, this malformation has been found.

So also among plants with indefinite inflorescence, prolification seems
very frequently to affect those wherein the axis is normally prolonged;
thus it is common in _Dictamnus_, which plant has an internode
supporting the pistil; it is frequent among _Umbelliferae_, where the
carpophore may be truly considered an axile production; it is common
among _Rosaceae_ and _Ranunculaceae_, in many of which the axis or
thalamus is well-marked, and it is by no means infrequent in the flowers
of the Orange, where the floral internodes are also slightly elongated;
on the other hand, there is no case on record in _Magnoliaceae_, and some
other orders where the floral part of the axis is at some point or other
elongated; still, on the whole, there can be but little doubt that there
is a real relation between prolification and the normal extension of the
floral internodes.

Under these circumstances, those instances wherein the parts of the
flower become separated one from the other by the elongation of the
internodes (apostatis), constitute a lesser degree of the same change,
which operates most completely in the formation of a new bud at the
extremity of the prolonged axis. Some specimens of _Geum rivale_ (a
plant very liable to become prolified) in my possession show this very
clearly. In the wild plant the thalamus is elevated on a short stalk; in
the abnormal ones the thalamus is simply upon a longer stalk than usual,
or in a more advanced stage of the deviation the lengthened thalamus
takes the form of a branch provided with leaves and terminated by a
flower; it is noticeable, also, in these specimens, that the sepals of
the lower flower