There is nothing surprising in the central flower tending to retain its former
condition longer than the others; for when irregular flowers become regular or
peloric, they are apt to be central; and such peloric flowers apparently owe
their origin either to arrested development--that is, to the preservation of an
early stage of development--or to reversion. Central and perfectly developed
flowers in not a few plants in their normal condition (for instance, the common
Rue and Adoxa) differ slightly in structure, as in the number of the parts, from
the other flowers on the same plant. All such cases seem connected with the fact
of the bud which stands at the end of the shoot being better nourished than the
others, as it receives the most sap. (Introduction/14. This whole subject,
including pelorism, has been discussed, and references given in my 'Variation of
Animals and Plants under Domestication' chapter 26 2nd edition volume 2 page
338.)
The cases hitherto mentioned relate to hermaphrodite species which bear
differently constructed flowers; but there are some plants that produce
differently formed seeds, of which Dr. Kuhn has given a list. (Introduction/15.
'Botanische Zeitung' 1867 page 67.) With the Umbelliferae and Compositae, the
flowers that produce these seeds likewise differ, and the differences in the
structure of the seeds are of a very important nature.
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