72 



SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



bisexual. Some kinds of Palm-trees bear staminate 

 flowers one year, and pistillate flowers the next. 

 That abundant shrub in the hedgerows of the 

 more southerly parts of England, the Spindle -tree 

 {Euonyimis europcetcs), produces flowers in which the 

 stamens are frequently, but not always, aborted ; 

 those of the Wild Thyme (Thyimts serpylhini) are 

 often to be found in the same condition. These facts 



prove that the altera- 

 tion and adaptation of 

 flowers to their sur- 

 roundings is still go- 

 ing on. In the sedges 

 the male and female 

 flowers are habitually 

 grouped together, but 

 in separate clusters. 



The differentiation 

 of flowers into pistillate 

 and staminate kinds 

 is carried out in the highest degree in those species 

 which bear them on separate individual plants, 

 shrubs, or trees. To them the old Linnaean term 

 dioecious is still applied. Evidently this habit is an 

 advance on that we have been considering, where 

 the floral sexes are separate but borne upon the 

 same plant iinonoecious). 



Among the wind-fertilised or anemophiloiis group 

 of flowers, the adaptation is a purely mechanical 



Fig. 21. — Female or pistillate flowers of Oak. 



