us_ in which nearly 900
petaloid organs existed in the place of the twenty-five or thirty
stamens natural to the plant, the other organs of the flower being in
their ordinary condition, with the exception of the pistil, which did
not attain its full size. Baillon records the occasional existence of
two rows of stamens in _Ditaxis lancifolia_.

=Increased number of stamens in orchids, &c.=--Various deviations from
the ordinary type of orchid structure have been already alluded to under
the head of displacement, fusion, peloria, substitution, &c., but the
alterations presented by the androecium in this family are so
important in reference to what is considered its natural conformation,
that it seems desirable, in this place, to enter upon the teratological
appearances presented by the androecium in this order, in somewhat
greater detail than usual. The ordinary structure of the flower with its
three sepals, two petals, labellum, column; and inferior ovary, is well
known. Such a conformation would be wholly anomalous and inexplicable
were it not that the real number and arrangement of parts have been
revealed by various workers labouring to the same end in different
fields. Thus, Robert Brown, Link, Bauer, Darwin, and others, paid
special attention to the minute anatomy and mode of distribution of the
vessels; Irmisch, Crueger, Payer, and others, to the evolution of the
flower; Lindley, St. Hilaire, and Reichenbach, to the comparison of the
completed structures in the various genera and species; while the
teratological observers have been numerous, as will be seen from the
selected references cited at the end of this paragraph and in other
places. The result of this manifold study has been a pretty general
agreement that the structure of the order (omitting minor details) is as
follows:--A six-parted perianth in two rows, the outer three (sepals)
generally regular and equal in shape; of the inner three (petals or
tepals) two are regular, and one, the labellum very irregular,
consisting not only of a petal, but of two abortive stamens incorporated
with it. The column is considered to be made up of one perfect and three
abortive stamens, in inseparable connection with three styles. By some,
however, it is supposed that all the stamens are confluent with the
column and none with the lip.

[Illustration: FIG. 192.--Diagram showing the arrangement of parts in an
orchid flower. According to Crueger, the stamens A 2, A 3, should