SUPPRKSSION OR ABORTION OF PARTS. 



263 



make the whole blossom. Such flowers, being neither staminate 

 nor jiistillate, are said to be neutral. In so-called compound flowers 

 (394) the strajj-shaped marginal flowers are sometimes neutral, as 

 in Coreopsis (Fig. 324, 325), Mayweed, and Sunflower. In some 

 Grasses and other plants such neutral flowers want the floral en- 

 velopes also, or are reduced to an abortive rudiment. 



48G. Tlie suppression or abortion of a Avhole circle of organs in a 

 symmetrical flower does not destroy its symmetry, if we take note 

 of the absent members. Thus a monochlamydeous flower, Avith a 

 single full circle of stamens, usually has the latter placed opposite 

 the leaves of the perianth, that is, of the calyx, the corolla or in- 

 tervening circle having failed to appear. But Avhen, with the abor- 

 tion of the jn-imary circle, say of the stamens, we have an augmenta- 

 tion of one or more additional circles of the same kind of organ, the 

 law of alternation appears to be violated ; the stamens that are 

 present, or the outer circle of them, standing before the petals, in- 

 stead of alternate with them. It is customary to assume tliis ex- 

 planation for all cases of the anteposition of the stamens to the -^et- 

 als, whether in the Primrose family, in Claytonia, in the Vine (Fig. 



FIG. 420. Cyme of Hydrangea arborescens, with the large marginal flowers neulral 



