whole subdivision of the order
(_Alsodeiae_) in which regular flowers are the rule.

In cultivated Pelargoniums the central flower of the umbel or "truss"
frequently retains its regularity of proportion, so as closely to
approximate to the normal condition in the allied genus _Geranium_; this
resemblance is rendered greater by the fact that, under such
circumstances, the patches of darker colour characteristic of the
ordinary flower are completely wanting; the flower is as uniform in
colour as in shape. Even the nectary which is adherent to the upper
surface of the pedicel in the normal flower disappears--sometimes
completely, at other tunes partially. The direction of the stamens and
style, and even that of the whole flower, becomes altered from the
inclined to the vertical position. In addition to these changes, which
are those most commonly met with, the number of the parts of the flower
is sometimes augmented, and a tendency to pass from the verticillate to
the spiral arrangement manifested. Schlechtendal mentions some flowers
of _Tropaeolum majus_ in which the flowers were perfectly regular and
devoid of spurs[224], while in the double varieties, now commonly grown
in greenhouses, the condition of parts is precisely the same as in the
double violet before alluded to. Among the _Papilionaceae_ the Laburnum
and others have been noticed to produce occasionally a perfectly regular
flower in the centre, or at the extremity of the inflorescence, though
the peloria in this flower is usually irregular. In the Gentianaceous
genus _Halenia_, _H. heterantha_ is remarkable for the absence of spurs.
Amongst _Gesneraceae_, _Bignoniaceae_, _Scrophulariaceae_, and other
families of like structure, regular peloria is not uncommon. Fig. 120
represents a case of this kind in _Eccremocarpus scaber_, conjoined, as
is frequently the case, with dialysis or separation of the petals.[225]
Many of the cultivated Gloxinias also show erect, regular, five
stamened flowers, but these are probably cases of irregular peloria.

[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Regular peloria, _Eccremocarpus scaber_.]

A solitary flower of _Pedicularis sylvatica_ was found by the Marquis of
Stafford near Dunrobin Castle in Sutherlandshire, in which the usual
ringent form of the corolla was replaced by the form called
salver-shaped. There were six stamens, four long and two short. Sir W.
Hooker and Mr. Borrer are stated to have found a similar flower in the
same localit