258 



THE FLOWER. 



suppressed. But we incline to the opinion that this sort of flower 

 is rendered unsymmetrical, not by the suppression of two short sta- 

 mens, but by the chorisis or division of the two stamens each into a 

 pair (456, Fig. 368). 



478. Most flowers which are irregular by the unequal union of 



the petals, especially those with a hi- 

 lahiate corolla (473, 511), are likewise 

 unsymmetrical by the abortion of one 

 or more of the stamens. In the Cat- 

 nip, Balm, «&:c., and in the Snapdragon, 

 Monkey-flower, Foxglove, and the 

 like, as also in Gerardia (Fig. 407), 

 where the corolla is only slightly ir- 

 regular, four stamens occupy their 

 proper places alternate witli its lobes, 

 but the fifth stamen is altogether want- 

 ing. In its place, however, the corolla 

 of the Figwort, belonging to the same 

 family as the Snapdragon and Ge- 

 rai'dia, bears a small scale, and that of 

 Chelone and Pentstemon (Fig. 408) 

 bears an antherless filament, which, 

 from its position, must be the wanting 

 stamen, in an abortive state ; and in 

 one species it has actually been found 

 with a perfect or an imperfect anther, 

 completing the symmetry of the flow- 

 er. The four perfect stamens in these 

 cases are of unequal length, two of 

 them being longer than the other two 

 (i. e. they are didynamous, 520). 

 The two shorter stamens also disappear in many such plants, as in 

 Gratiola or Hedge-Hyssop, — sometimes leaving vestiges in their 

 place, and sometimes not ; also in Sage, Horse-Mint, and the like. 

 Here three stamens out of five are suppressed. So they commonly 



409 



FIG 407. Corolla of Gerardia purpurea laid open, with the four stamens the place ■which 

 the fifth should occupy indicated by a cross 



FIG. 408. Corolla of Pentstemon grandiflorus laid open, with its four stamens, and a sterile 

 filament in the place of the fifth stamen. 



FIG. 409. Corolla of Catalpa laid open, with two perfect stamens and the vestiges of three 

 abortive ones. 



