84 



THE PLAN OF THE FLOWER. 



Regular, the organs of the same kind similar, and 

 Symmetrical, the same number of organs in each whorl. 



413. Seldom realized. Happily, this oar conception of tho typical flower is 

 not ofton realized in nature, although tho tendency toward it is universal. Devia- 

 tions occur in every imaginable mode and degree, causing that endless variety in 

 the floral world which we never cease to admire. 



414. Examples. In our cut (Pink, 258) illustrating the organization of tho flower 

 tho tendency in this direction is evident, but tho stamens are too man}- and tho pis- 

 tils seem too few. Among the Flaxworts and tho Houseleek tribe, however, are 

 Eomo good examples. The flower of tho flax combines very nearly all the condi- 

 tions above specified. It is complete, regular, symmetrical. Its organs are alter- 

 nate and all separate, and (disregarding the slight cohesion of the pistils at their 

 base) this flower well realizes our type. But 



263 2G1 262 



260, bis, Flower of Crassula lactea, regular, symmetrical, organs distinct. 261, Diagram showing 

 its plan. 262, Flower of tho Scarlet Flax. 263, Diagram of its plan. 



415. TnH flowers of Crassula, an African genus sometimes cultivated, afford 

 unexceptionable examples, the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils each being five 

 in number, regularly alternating and perfectly separate. 



416. Flowers of sedum. Admitting two whorls of stamens instead of one, we 

 havo a good example of our typo in stone-crop (Sedum ternaturo), a little fleshy 

 herb of our woods. Its flowers aro both 4-parted and 5-partsd in tho samo plant. 

 See also tho 12-parted flowers of tho common houseleek. 



417. How to study the flower. If, with this typo as our adopted standard of 

 the floral structure wo compare any of the myriads of different forms which occur, 

 we shall bo ablo to trace out the features of the general plan even among the 

 widest deviations. The more important of them aro included in tho following sy- 

 nopsis : — 



1. Variations in the radical number of the flower. 



2. Deficiencies rendering the flower 



o, Incomplete, 



b, Imperfect, 



c, Unsymmetrical, 



d, Organs opposite. 



