FL WE R- LEA VES. 



[CH.AP. 



needful fc- us to select some well-known plant which we 

 can speak of by name, so that we may avoid misunder- 

 standing. 



Perhaps we cannot do better than take, first, the Orange- 

 flower, or the flower of one of its near allies, the Citron, 

 Shaddock, or Lemon. The structure of the flowers of the 

 latter is so similar to that of the flowers of the Orange, that 

 any of them will do. As the leaves of which the flower 

 consists are smaller than foliage-leaves, and very different 

 from them in form, colour, and arrangement, it will be 

 necessary that you be very careful in your observations, 

 making sure that you thoroughly understand every stage of 

 your progress. 



The flower, obseri^e, is borne upon a very short branch, 

 which serves as a flower-stalk, and which is distinguished as 

 \\\Q pedimcle of the flower. Before proceeding to dissect (to 

 separate carefully into its pieces) a flower, select one that 

 has just opened, and which has lost none of the parts whicli 

 it possessed while still a bud ; that is, before it expanded. 



Observe, first, that all the coloured leaves which form the 

 flower are apparently arranged upon the very extremity of 



the little branch which serves as 

 a flower-stalk. The internodes 

 which separate the upper foliage- 

 leaves of the stem cease, or are 

 suppressed, in the flower, so that 

 all the parts are in close juxta- 

 position. This is characteristic 

 of flowers. The top of the 

 flower -bearing branch, from 

 which the flower-leaves collec- 

 tively spring, is called the recep- 

 tacle, or do*-al recehtncle. 



Fig. 3. Vertical section of the 

 Fiower of the Orange. 



