CHAPTER VII. 
BRACTS AND FLORAL LEAVES. 
WE now come to the consideration of the remaining two kinds of 
leaf, z.e., bracts and floralleaves. The latter make up the greater 
part of the flower, which may be defined as a shoot specially 
modified for carrying on the function of reproduction. Bracts 
are leaves, usually much reduced, which occur near the flower. 
It will be necessary, in order to understand the various parts 
which make up a flower, to carefully examine a simple example. 
It is usual to select a buttercup for this purpose. First, with a 
sharp penknife or scalpel divide the flower into halves, in which 
operation it is desirable to commence by splitting the flower- 
stalk or peduncle. The cut thus made is then continued, If 
this is done successfully, it will readily be seen (fig. 30) that the 
continuation of the peduncle within the flower forms a conical 
structure upon which are crowded numerous parts of different 
shapes and sizes. This conical body, the floral receptacle or 
torus, is in reality the stem part of the floral shoot, while the 
structures situated upon it are the leaf part of the same. The 
crowding is caused by non-development of internodes, a common 
occurrence, as we have already seen, in the ordinary vegetative 
shoot. Now, in another specimen, proceed to examine the various 
kinds of floral leaf, beginning at the outside. First comes a 
whorl of five small yellowish-green leaves, the sepals, collectively 
forming the calyx. Then follows another whorl of five much 
larger bright-yellow leaves, the petals, which make up the corolla 
and alternate with the sepals. Now pull off the calyx and corolla, 
and, before examining the more internal parts, carefully inspect 
the glossy inner side of a petal. Close to its attached end will 
found a minute scale covering a spot which excretes honey or 
nectar, and is known as a honey gland or nectary. Within the 
perianth (=calyx+ corolla) are a very large number of yellow 
threads arranged spirally, though this is not easily made out. 
The threads are stamens, and their collective name is andrecium. 
The thin stalk of a stamen is its filament, and the thickened end 
its anther, within which an immense number of minute pollen 
