culent character of the ordinary pome.
Such instances are frequently classed under the head of prolification,
but they have in general no claim to be considered in this light, for
the reasons already given in the chapter relating to that subject. (See
p. 135.)[491]

A very curious illustration of hypertrophy of the flower-stalk is
recorded and figured by M. Carriere[492] in the cherry. The calyx in
these fruits was completely superior, the succulent portion of the fruit
being made up of the dilated extremity of the peduncle, and possibly in
part of the base of the calyx. The general appearance was thus that of a
crab-apple. There was no stone in the interior, but simply a rudimentary
kernel or seed.[493]

Moquin-Tandon records an instance in which the stamens of each
individual flower in the inflorescence of a vine were hypertrophied, the
sepals, petals, and other organs of the flower, being proportionately
diminished.[494]

In this place may also be mentioned the hypertrophied condition of the
placenta observed by Alphonse de Candolle in a species of _Solanum_, and
also in a species of _Melastoma_. Not only was the placenta unusually
large in these flowers, but it also protruded beyond the ovary.[495] A
similar state of things in _Lobelia_ and _Cuphea_ has already been
alluded to under the head of Alterations of Direction (p. 210).

The following singular growth in a tomato is described by the Rev. M.
J. Berkeley in the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' for 1866, p. 1217, and appears
to have been an extension of the placenta:--"On the first glance it
seemed as if an unusually large grape-stone had accidentally fallen on
the upper surface of the fruit, and was attached by the narrow base. The
process was, however, five lines long, and much narrowed below, besides
which, though it was pale green above, the base was coral-red, like the
tomato itself. It grew on a narrow and shallow crack on the surface of
the fruit, and was found below to communicate directly with a
fibro-vascular bundle, which entered into the composition of a portion
of the placenta. On making a vertical section, instead of being
succulent, as I expected, it was white and spongy within, with several
lacunae, and one or two irregular fibro-vascular bundles, with highly
developed spiral vessels threading the centre. These vessels, moreover,
were tinged with brown, as in many cases of diseased tissues. There was
not the slightest appearance of placentae or anythi