GENERAL NATURE OF THE FLOWER. 



9 



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formed is found to be hollow at one por- 

 tion, bearing two slight projections upon 

 its inner wall (a), and upon these a num- 

 ber of minute rounded bodies (b). If al- 

 lowed to develop and mature under the 

 requisite conditions we should find that 

 these bodies had become seeds. The 

 structure producing thera we now see to 

 be a reduced bran eh. nwdijhd for tlie pro- 

 duction of seeda. and this constitutes our 

 definition of The Flower 



It does not follow that because con- 

 structed for the production of seeds a 

 flower is always capable of performing 

 this office independently, and, indeed, 

 such is not the case with the flower under 

 consideration, w^hich is an Imperfect one. 

 Its minute structure, to be described in a 

 succeeding chapter, shows it to contain 

 within the bodies which are to become 

 seeds, minute structures called Macro- 

 spores, w^hich produce cells comparable, in 

 their essential characters, to the ova of 

 animals, and requiring a similar fertiliz- 

 ing process to cause their development. 

 Flowers, or at least certain of their prod- 

 ucts, are thus seen to possess sex and to 

 be capable of performing sexual repro- 

 duction, or Reproduction Proper. Com- 

 monly both sexual parts are present in 

 one flower, and of these the female is 

 called the Gynaecium, frequently repre- 

 sented by the symbol G. The gynaecium. 

 or one of its parts when these are en- 

 tirely separate from each other, is called 

 Pistil. This flower possesses only 



gynaecium, and is therefore often spoken 

 of as a "Female Flower," technically 

 Pistillate, and indicated by the symbol 



9 This gynaecium consists of but a sin- 



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Flj a 



Fig.o 



I 



a 



Hy'V 



gle pistil, but the number of pistils a 

 gynaecium may possess is indefinite. 



Before considering the structure of the 

 pistil we will examine a "Male Flower,"" 



