OKCHID AND SPATHE FLOWEKS 



141 



Jack-in-the-pul- 

 pit. "Jack" is the 

 spadix ; the "pul- 

 pit " is the spathe. 



sac or "slipper," known as the lip. Over the opening of 

 this sac the column hangs. The column is shown in de- 

 tail: a is the stigma; d is an anther, and there is another 

 similar one on the opposite side, but not 

 shown in the picture; p is a petal -like sta- 

 men, which does not produce pollen. In 

 most other orchids there are three good 

 anthers. In orchids the pollen is usually 

 borne in adherent masses, one or two 

 masses occupying each sporangium of the 

 anther, whereas in most plants the pollen 

 is in separate grains. These pollen -masses 

 are known technically as pollinia. Orchids 

 from the tropics are much grown in choice 

 greenhouses. Several species are common 226 

 in woods and swamps in the northern 

 states and Canada. 



280. SPATHE FLOWERS. In many plants, very simple 

 (often naked flowers) are borne in dense, more or less 

 fleshy spikes, and the spike is inclosed in or attended by a 

 large corolla - like leaf, known as a 

 spathe. The spike of flowers is techni- 

 cally known as a spadix. This type of 

 flower is characteristic of the great arum 

 family, which is chiefly tropical. The 

 commonest wild representatives in the 

 North are Jack -in -the -pulpit or Indian 

 turnip (Fig. 226) and skunk cabbage. 

 In the former the flowers are all 

 diclinous and naked. The pistillate 

 flowers (comprising only a 1-loculed 

 ovary) are borne at the base of the 

 spadix, and the staminate flowers (each 

 of a few anthers) are above them. The ovaries ripen 

 into red berries. In the skunk cabbage all the flowers 



227. Wild aster, with six 

 heads, each contain- 

 ing several florets. 



