THE BLASCHKA FLOWER MODELS. 673 



sure that the models are absolutely true to the subjects furnished 

 for them, wherever they were grown. 



It is interesting to make a study of several species of a single 

 order, noting at the same time the typical characteristics and the 

 variations of detail. Take, for instance, one of the most common 

 and easily recognized orders that of the Malvacem. Here we 

 have no less than eight species, representing six genera. They 

 are : Hibiscus clypeatus, Hibiscus palustris, Spheralcea acerifolia, 

 Sida carpinifolia, Sida napcea, Nuttallia malvcpflora, Anoda Dil- 

 leniana, and Malva miniata. 



All these species show the distinguishing characteristics of the 

 family the translucent texture of the petals, with their clearly 

 marked veinings ; the delicate tints of the corolla, varying from 

 white to deep rose-purple, or, as in the case of the Sidas, to a 

 tawny, crimson-throated orange. All have certain enlarged de- 

 tails in which we again easily recognize the distinguishing fea- 

 tures of the order the column of stamens, the peculiarly shaped 

 anther (in the example of Hibiscus palustris shown in two stages 

 of its development, while an immature anther of H. moscheutos is 

 given), the style with its capitate stigmas, and also both longi- 

 tudinal and cross sections of the ovary showing the arrangement 

 of the ovules in their cells. 



In Spheralcea acerifolia the inflated, heart-shaped anther is 

 speckled with pale red like a bird's egg, and here we have also a 

 pollen grain magnified one thousand times. Among the details 

 of the Nuttallia is a sepal with its stellate hairs and a single one 

 of these hairs enlarged two hundredfold and looking like a tiny 

 snow crystal. Probably none of the models illustrate better the 

 value of these magnified details, in studying the more recon- 

 dite orders, than those of the EupliorbiacecB, where the inflores- 

 cence owes its beauty to a highly colored involucre, while the 

 flower proper is reduced to a single organ. So in Jatropha offici- 

 nalis the brilliant, flame-colored involucre attracts the eye, while 

 the insignificant flower is represented by a solitary stamen or 

 pistil. The three- celled ovary, the three styles each with its two- 

 cleft stigma, may here be carefully studied without recourse to 

 the aid of the lens. Especially delicate is the little Euphorbia 

 montaria, gray as if with the dust of the California deserts it 

 comes from. A detail of the inflorescence shows the inner side of 

 the involucral bract to which the sterile flowers or stamens are 

 attached. 



Still another plant of the same order is most baffling to the 

 student, from the arrangement of the pale pink flowers on the 

 margins of what appear to be flat, cactuslike leaves, but which 

 are in reality the rudimentary branches of this curious growth ; 

 this is the Xylophylla Boezlii. 



VOL. L. 51 



