APPENDIX A 



519 



Family ROSACEAE. Examples : APPLE, STRAWBERRY, ROSE, CHERRY. 



(26) The Apple (Pyrus malus, L.) is a small tree with long vegetative 

 shoots and short spurs, upon which the flowers are borne. The leaves are 

 stipulate. The flowers appear in groups, one terminal on the spur, the rest in 

 the axils of the bracts below it. Each flower, together with two bracteoles, is 

 borne on an elongated stalk, which swells immediately below the calyx into 

 the enlarged inferior ovary. It is thus epigynous (Fig. 425), and consists of: 



Calyx, sepals 5, polysepalous, superior ; the odd sepal is posterior. 



Corolla, petals 5, polypetalous, superior, alternating with the sepals. 



FIG. 425. 



Vertical section through a flower of the Quince (Cydonia). sep = sepals, pet = 

 petals. . st= stamens, c = apices of the carpels, elongated into styles, ov = ovules. 

 n = nectaries. The receptacle is here hollowed out, so that the carpels appear sunk 

 down into a cavity. (After Church.) 



Androecium, stamens indefinite, free, epigynous. 



Gynoecium, carpels 5, syncarpous, inferior ; five distinct stigmas are borne 

 on styles separate above, but more or less distinct below. Ovary with five 

 loculi, and several ovules in each (Fig. 426, A). 



Fruit, consists of the inferior ovary crowned by the persistent calyx. The 

 five carpels are sunk in the succulent tissue of the receptacle, from which they 

 are not distinctly marked off. Their inner cartilaginous wall forms th^e 

 " core," and one or more " pips," or seeds, are contained in each. 



Pollination. The flowers are attractive by colour and easily accessible 

 honey secreted on the concave surface within the stamens. They are slightly 

 protogynous, but are not highly specialised. Insects collecting honey and 

 pollen will carry out cross-pollination, but self-pollination is also possible. 



(27) The Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca, L.) is a perennial herb with 

 ternate, stipulate leaves, borne upon a sympodial rhizome. The apex of the 



