half the number of cases it is a
flower-bud or an inflorescence. There may be one or more of these buds;
if two only, then they are usually placed directly opposite one to the
other, on the opposite sides of the flower.

It will be seen, from the appended list, that the orders and genera in
which this description of adventitious growth occurs most frequently are
the following:--_Cruciferae_, especially the genus _Brassica_;
_Caryophyllaceae_, e.g. _Dianthus_; _Resedaceae_; _Leguminosae_, e.g.
_Melilotus_, _Trifolium_, &c.; _Rosaceae_, e.g. _Rosa_, _Potentilla_,
&c.; _Umbelliferae_, and _Campanulaceae_. For the most part, these are
groups also peculiarly liable to central prolification.

All the parts of the flower may be thus affected; but, as might have
been anticipated from the foliaceous nature of the sepals, the new bud
usually arises from within the axil of one of those organs. Next in
frequency to the calyx, the pistil is subjected to this change--the
carpels in such a case being disunited and leaf-like. The petals rank
next, and lastly the stamens; these latter, indeed, are usually, but not
invariably, absent, the new growth occupying their position. Hence it
may well be that when such is the case, there is no real axillary
prolification, but rather the substitution of a bud for a stamen.
Generally, however, the position of the accessory bud is such that it
may properly be referred to the axil of an undeveloped or rudimentary
stamen.

The largest number of instances of this malformation, not merely
generically, but also individually, occurs in plants the members of
whose floral whorls are not united one to the other; thus, it is far
more common in polypetalous plants than in gamopetalous ones. In the
prolified flowers belonging to the latter group, the sepals, if not
actually uncombined, are only united for a short distance. The same
relationship, but in a much less degree, exists in the case of median
prolification, as that aberration is likewise most commonly met with in
polypetalous flowers. Another feature of interest is the rarity with
which axillary prolification is found in irregular gamopetalous blooms.
It may be that the irregular and comparatively excessive growth in some
parts of these flowers, as compared with others, may operate in checking
any luxuriant tendency in other directions.

As in the case of median prolification, plants having an indefinite
inflorescence are more liable to be affected