LECTURES. 45 
common, the rings of the flower each consists of three parts, or some 
multiple of three—thus, perianth = six leaves, andreecium = six stamens, 
gynaecium = three carpels ; but the different position of the ovary is 
quite sufficient to separate these flowers, they belong consequently to 
different Orders. The Linnean system—Linneus grouped plants 
together largely by the number of their stamens. Plants with three 
stamens were T7riandria, those with six Avrxandria ; this was very 
useful at the time, and Linnzeus did a great deal for the systematizing 
of botany, but it was found to be really unscientific; plants which 
resembled each other as far as the number of stamens is concerned 
very often differed in other respects, the wall-flower, for instance, has 
six stamens, so has the nyacinth, in every other respect they are 
entirely different. Plants are grouped together now in proportion as 
they resemble each other as a whole. The hyacinth and daffodil 
belong to the great group of plants known as Mfonocotyledons. The 
easiest way of recognising a AZonocotyledon is to look at its leaves, the 
veins all run parallel to each other. ‘The term means: one seed leaf; 
plants that belong to this group have one seed leaf which remains 
undeveloped; whilst Décotyledons have two. Again, in ALonocotyledons 
the parts of a flower are arranged in threes. 
One of the most interesting orders among the Dicotyledons is the 
Crucifere. Flowers belonging to this Order have always cruciform 
corallas. 
In the young bud of the Cuckoo Flower which belongs to this 
Order, all the six anthers are turned towards the pistil which projects 
above them. Before the flower opens the four inner stamens elongate 
and overtop the stigma, and make a quarter of a revolution towards it, 
each one towards the small stamen nearest to it ; so that now an insect 
in trying to reach the honey of one of the larger glands must rub its 
head or proboscis against the pollen bearing surface of one of the 
taller anthers. In cold rainy weather flowers are often found in which 
the revolution is incomplete or does not take place at all and in such 
cases the pollen of the longer stamens falls of itself upon the stigma. 
The shorter stamens always remain with the side at which they 
dehisce turned inwards towards the stigma, so that the pollen is 
rubbed off by a head or proboscis of any insect making for the 
smaller honey glands. 
The Leguminose. There are some interesting facts about plants 
belonging to this Order. It is an Order that has two names, Papr- 
Zionacee, from its corolla, but curiously enough thisname only holds good 
in temperate regions, there are some plants growing in hot climates 
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