Teratology

Teratology, the study of malformations or abnormal growths, animal or vegetable. Those of the animal kingdom are treated at MONSTROSITY, DEFORMITIES, CLUB-FOOT, DWARF, HARELIP, &c. Those of the vegetable world form part of the subject of Vegetable Pathology, which deals with the diseases of plants (see that sub-heading under PLANTS, special articles such as ANBURY, &c.), and with excrescences caused by animals and parasites (see BEDEGUAR, GALL-FLY, GALLS, &c.; also BORING ANIMALS). Under this head come also abnormal forms like four-leaved clover, &c., as well as changes in the form of plants brought about by the skill of gardeners and agriculturists—such as the bulbous modification of the roots of turnips, the development of such a growth as cauliflower, the production of double-flowering plants, and the metamorphosis of organs. See BOTANY, CULTIVATED PLANTS, FLOWER, LEAF, HYBRID, MORPHOLOGY, and VARIATION; the articles on flowers that have been so developed—COCKSCOMB, DAHLIA, ROSE, &c.; the handbooks of morphological and physiological botany, but especially Masters, Vegetable Teratology (Ray Society, 1869), Penzig, Pflanzen-teratologie (1890), and Dareste, Recherches sur la Production artificielle des Monstrosités (2d ed. 1891).