250 



THE FLOWER. 



by both the filaments and tlie anthers, as in Lobelia and the Gourd. 

 An account of the modes of such union, and of the terms employed 

 to express them, may be found in Section VI. The union of the 

 pistils is still more common than that of stamens, and is illustrated in 

 Section VII. 



4GI. The terms union, cohesion, and the like, must not be under- 

 stood to imply that the organs in question were first formed as 

 distinct parts, and subsequently cohered. This is seldom the case. 

 The union is congenital ; the members of a gamosepalous calyx, a 

 gamopetalous corolla, &c. showed their union from the earliest 

 period. The language we use has reference to our idea of these 

 parts, as answering each to a single leaf. We might more cor- 

 rectly say that the several leaves of the same circle have failed to 

 isolate themselves as they grew. The same remark applies to the 

 analogous case of 



465. Adnatioii, or Consolidation, the union of different circles of 

 floral organs with one another. This may take place in various de- 

 gi-ees. It presents the appearance of one circle or set of parts grow- 

 ing out of another, as the corolla out of the calyx, the stamens out of 

 the corolla, or all of them out of the pistil ; and therefore disguises 

 the real origin of the floral organs from the receptacle or axis, in 

 successive series, one within or above the other (421). The con- 

 sideration of the flower as respects such consohdation, or its ab- 

 sence, gives rise to three terms which ai'e much used in descrip- 

 tive botany, and which the student should thorouglily understand, 

 viz. hypogynous, perigynous, and epigynous. 



466. The first of these 

 terms applies to the case in 

 which there is no adnation or 

 consolidation of unlike parts. 

 That is, when the calyx, 

 corolla, and stamens are 

 borne (i. e. inserted) on the 

 receptacle, they are said to 

 be hypogynous (from two 

 Greek words meaning under 

 the pistil), as in Buttercup, Flax (Fig. 387), &c. The floral organs 

 in such cases are also said to ho. free ; which is the term opposed to 



FIG. 887. Vertical section of a flower of the Common Flax, showing the normal or hypo- 

 gynous Insertion of parts. 



