Fig. 148 shows a floret of a species of _Gaillardia_, in which the ovule was replaced by a leafy shoot which had made its way through a chink in the ovary. In this specimen, however, there was no evidence to show whether the shoot in question was a perverted development of the nucleus, or whether it was wholly independent of the ovule.
[Illustration: FIG. 148.--Floret of _Gaillardia_, showing leafy shoot occupying the place of the ovule.]
From this occasional elongation of the nucleus, as well as from the foliar nature of the ovular coats, Prof. Alex. Braun arrives at the conclusion that the ovule is to be looked on as a bud, the ovular coatings, so often variable in number, representing the scales of the bud, the nucleus corresponding to the end of the axis or growing point. Griffith had previously expressed the same opinion from his observations on malformed ovules of _Sinapis_ and _Lonicera_, while Caspary's conclusions from the foliaceous ovules of _Trifolum repens_ are somewhat similar. The latter observer considers that the funiculus, with the integuments, is the equivalent of a leaflet, the petiolule or midrib of which answers to the funiculus, and its hollow expansion to the integument. The nucleus itself is considered to be a new formation analogous to a shoot.
M. van Tieghem's conclusion[278] from the examination, of flowers of _Tropæolum majus_, in which the ovules were replaced by perfect peltate leaves, is that the ovules are foliar productions springing, not directly from a prolonged floral axis, as in _Primulaceæ_, but from branches of the axis arising from the axils of the carpellary leaves.
Phyllody of the ovules has been met with most often in the following species:
*Aquilegia vulgaris! Skinneri. Delphinium crassicaule. elatum. dictyocarpum. Ajacis. Nigella damascena. Adonis autumnalis. Cheiranthus Cheiri! Nasturtium, sp. Sisymbrium officinale! Brassica napus! * olcracea! *Alliaria officinalis! Sinapis arvensis! Turritis, sp. Thlaspi arvense. Erucastrum Pollichii. Stellaria media. *Reseda lutea. Drosera intermedia. Agrostemma Githago. Stellaria media. Triumfetta, sp.! Tropæolum majus! Dictamnus albus. Fraxinella! Caram carui Pastinaca sativa. Torilis anthriscus. Thysselinum palustre. Epilobium palustre. Rosa, sp. Fragaria alpina. *Trifolium repens! Medicago maculata. Desmodium canadense. Melilotus macrorhiza. Lonicera, sp. Gaillardia! Crepis, sp. Phyteuma odorata. Symphytum Zeyheri. * officinale. Stachys sylvatica. Anagallia arvensis. phoenicea. Lysimachia ephemerum. *Primula sinensis! Auricula. prænitens. Gilia glomeruliflora. Rumex arifolius. scutatus. Salix capræa.