FLOWERS : THEIR FORMS AND KIXDS. 



69 



IS9 



Hydrangea. 



stamens only, and others perfect, having both stamens and pistils, either on the same 

 or on different individuals. The Red Maj^le is a very good case of this kind ; the 



two or three sorts 

 of flowers look- 

 ing very differ- 

 ently when they 

 appear in earh-- 

 spring ; those of 

 one tree having 

 long red stamens 

 and no good pis- 

 til, those of other 

 trees having con- 

 spicuous pistils, 

 in some blossoms 

 with no good sta- 

 mens at all, in 

 others with short ones. There are also what are called abortive or 



206. Neutral Flowers ; having neither stamens nor pistils, and so good for nothing 

 except for show. In the Snowball of the gardens and in richly cultivated Hydran- 

 geas all the blossoms are neutral, and no fruit is formed. 



Even in the wild state of these shrubs, some of the 

 blossoms around the margin of the cluster are neu- 

 tral (as in the Wild Hydrangea, Fig. 1G9), consisting 

 only of three or four flower-leaves, very much larger 

 than the small perfect flowers which make up the rest of 

 the cluster. Also what the gardener calls Double Flowers^ 

 when full, are neutral, as in double Roses and Buttercups. 

 These are blossoms which by cultivation have all their 

 stamens and pistils changed into petals. 



207. A Symmetrical Flo^Ver is one which has an equal 

 number of parts of each kind or in each set or row. 

 This is so in the Stonecrop (Fig. 153), which has five sepals in the calyx, five petals 

 in the corolla, ten stamens (that is, two sets of stamens of five each), and five 

 pistils. Or often it has flowers with four sepals, and then there are only four 



