FAMILIAR FLOWERS. 289 



calyx is corolla-like, and the superseded petals do not assume 

 other duties, they dwindle and disappear. 



In Myosuriis they are linear ; in Isopyrum they have become 

 minute ; and in Zanthorhiza they are tiny glands, not much bigger 

 than commas. Bright and delicate sepals are the sole and sufifi- 

 cient adornment of the Hepatica, Trautvettaria, Anemone, Cle- 

 matis, and Hydrastis. No petals at all are present in these 

 flowers, even as rudiments. In Cimicifiiga and Hydrastis the 

 delicate and decorative sepals fall off almost immediately after the 

 flower has expanded, showing that the last stage in this series — 

 that of dispensing altogether with floral envelopes — is nearly 

 reached. 



It is still more nearly reached by the Rue ( Thaiictriun), which 

 has no petals, and merely the rudiments of sepals. The Thalic- 

 tru?n produces no honey, but without stored sweets or floral enve- 

 lopes it bids for and secures the attention of insects. They are 

 lured by the conspicuous stamens, which are made to do the duty 

 of the absent petals as well as their own. 



■ Cimicifuga, or Bugbane, attracts insect visitors by a like device, 

 for after its inconstant and fugitive sepals are gone, its great fea- 

 thery spine of cream-white stamens is very noticeable amid the 

 green shadows of its woodland haunts. 



Atrophy of the fifth stamen is found in flowers of two orders : 

 the Figwort family and the Bignonia family. In Chelone the 

 stamen in question is present, but smaller than the others, and 

 generally sterile — a step towards atrophy. In Collinsia it is a 

 slender rudiment, and in Scrophiilaria it has dwindled to a mere 

 scale ; " a thing," says Prof. Gray, " of no use whatever to the 

 plant, but very interesting to the botanist, since it completes the 

 symmetry of the blossom." 



In Gratiola and Hysanthes, the fifth stamen has, it seems, 

 entirely disappeared and two more are being eliminated — are 

 present, but sterile. Veronica has reached the goal with two 

 stamens and no rudiments, and it gives further proof of its high 

 organisation in its bright blue colour, in the shape of its corolla, 

 and in the distinct drawing of its honey guides. Its poorest rela- 

 tions are the common mullins. Their colours, yellow and white, 

 are, says Grant Allen, worn by " the earliest and simplest types of 



