126 



THE FLOWER 



172. Two of the florets in a head of Dandelion 

 (diagrammatic) . 



247. The protection of the nectar from rain is effected 

 sometimes by the habitually drooping attitude of the 



flower, sometimes 

 by the bending or 

 bowing of the 

 flower stalk on the 

 approach of rain, 

 sometimes by some 

 special construc- 

 tion of the flower. 

 248. The group- 

 ing of flowers in a 

 specialized part of 

 the shoot in a man- 

 ner likely to secure the attention of insects, and so lead 

 to the process of cross-fertilization, should be noted. The 

 Dandelion (Fig. 172) and the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Fig. 173) 

 may be taken as illustrations. In 

 both these cases clusters of flowers 

 are commonly mistaken for single 

 flowers. The apparent "petals" of 

 the Dandelion head are the several 

 separate corollas of as many small 

 flowers or florets. On close examina- 

 tion each of these florets is seen to 

 possess its own two-parted stigma, 

 and androecium of five stamens united 

 around the style. What might pass 

 at a casual glance for a calyx, sur- 

 rounding the whole head, is a collec- 

 tion of subtending leaves (hracts) 

 serving to protect the bud. 



249. In the Jack-in-the-pulpit 

 (Fig. 173), a fleshy spike of small 

 flowers (termed a spadix) is sur- 

 rounded and overarched by a single 



more or less striped or colored bract (termed in such 

 a case a spathe). 



173. Inflorescence of the 

 Jack-in-the-pulpit. 

 The bract (spathe) 

 partly cut away 

 below to show the 

 fleshy spike (spa- 

 dix) of flowers 

 which it surrounds. 



