27 BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



have a reduced gynoecium. Here three loculi are present in the ovary, but 

 only one bears a fertile ovule. The same is the case in the Oak ; also in the 

 Coco-Nut. Here the three depressed scars on the shell indicate the three 

 carpels, but only the one that can be pierced by a pin matures its seed, and 



forms a germ. 



A beautiful case of meiomery, involving several steps, is seen in the 

 Scrophulariaceae. The flower is typically pentamerous, but it becomes 



M. 



TL. 



E 



Fig. 194. 

 Dissections of flowers of Lychnis dioica. I., II., VIII., the pistillate flower in 

 which the stamens are represented only by staminodes (st). III., IV., IX., the 

 staminate flowers in which the gynoecium is represented only by a vestigium (gyn). 



reduced to apparent tetramery. In the Mullein (Verbascum) the formula 

 is S 5 , P 5 , A 5 , G 2 . But in Scrophularia the posterior stamen is represented 

 by a non-functional staminode (Fig. 192), while in others of the family it 

 may be absent. In Veronica the two anterior stamens are also abortive. 

 The two posterior petals fuse so that the corolla appears to be four-lobed ; 

 the posterior sepal, which is present in the Mullein, is represented in some 

 species of Veronica by a sepal smaller than the rest ; in other species it is 

 absent, as in Veronica Chamaedrys and the most of the Rhinantheae. Thus 

 the flower, though typically pentamerous, has by stages of meiomery become 

 apparently tetramerous. (Fig. 193.) Similar changes occur in the Plantains 

 and Teasels. 



