LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



base with the sides of the ovary. Thus the 

 botanist looks upon the Daffodil group as a higher 

 and more evolved class of plants than the hlies ; 

 for, although some of the latter have joined to- 

 gether their petals and sepals, yet these all have 

 superior ovaries. Indeed, to put the matter 

 simply, we may say that the Daffodil family is an 

 advanced group of lilies on account of its members 

 possessing inferior ovaries. 



By such simple stages of progression, of course, 

 the higher and more complex lily types have been 

 evolved. From the daffodils we turn to the Iris 

 and Crocus family. In these two plants we find 

 the floral parts arranged very much as in the case 

 of the daffodils, but they possess only three 

 stamens ; a reduction in the number of their parts 

 implying a still higher organisation, as I have 

 pointed out in some of the previous chapters. In 

 the gladiolus, which is a very advanced form of the 

 Iris family, the circular shape of the flower has given 

 way to a bilateral form — a specialisation that adapts 

 the flower to admit special insects in a particular 

 manner. 



Now it only needs a moment's consideration 

 of these bilateral flowers with the diminishing 

 numbers of their floral whorls, to understand how 

 the complex orchids (previously considered) with 

 their bilateral flowers, three sepals, two petals, a 

 single modified stamen, and one-celled inferior 

 ovary, were evolved. Indeed, this brief study of 

 the details of the daffodil's inferior ovary, tends to 

 throw much light on the probable methods of 



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