8 MEDICINAL HERBS AND POISONOUS PLANTS 



I 



A good rough-and-ready rule to distinguish between 

 hypogynous, perigynous, and epigynous flowers is the 

 following: If the stamens arise immediately beneath the 

 ovary the flower is hypogynous, if the stamens arise 

 from the top of the ovary tlie flower is epigynous, 

 whilst if the stamens arise without contact with the 

 ovary the flower is perigynous. 



When all these points have been mastered, the student 

 should examine with thoroughness a flower in w^hich the 

 perigynous condition is well marked. 



We may take as our fourth example the flower of the 

 Wild Rose, the fruits of which give us the beautiful red 

 hips in autumn. The receptacle in this flower is cup- 

 shaped, and assumes a red colour in late summer. From 

 the rim of the red cup the sepals, petals, and stamens 

 arise, whilst the carpels are formed at the bottom of the 

 cup. The Wild Rose therefore belongs to the type shown 

 diagrammatically in fig. 7, c. 



As much practice as possible should be carried out in 

 separating flowers into their component parts. The fol- 

 lowing questions should be answered in the case of each 

 flower under examination:— 



1. What are the number of sepals, petals, stamens, and 



carpels ? 



2. Do parts show union with like parts, e.g. petal wdth 



petal 



? 



3. Do parts show union wath unlike "parts, e.g. petal 



with stamen? 



4. Is the ovary superior or inferior? 



5. Is the flower hj'pogynous, perigynous, or epigynous? 



