86 



FLOWERS. 



[SECTION 8, 



250. A blossom having stamens and no pistil is a Staminate or Male 

 flower. Sometimes it is called a Sterile flower, not appropriately, for other 

 flowers may equally be sterile. One having pistil but no stamens is a 

 Pistillate or Female flower. 



251. Incomplete Flowers are so named 

 in contradistinction to complete : they want 

 either one or both of the floral envelopes. 

 Those of Fig. 230 are incomplete, having ca- 

 lyx but no corolla. So is the flower of Anem- 

 one (Fig. 233), although 



i its calyx is colored like a 

 corolla. The flowers of 

 Saururus or Lizard's-tail, 233 



although perfect, have neither calyx nor corolla (Fig. 

 234). Incomplete flowers, accordingly, are 



Naked or Achlamydeous, destitute of both floral en- 

 velopes, as in Fig. 234, or 

 Apetalous, when wanting only the corolla. . The case of corolla present 

 and calyx wholly wanting is extremely rare, although there are seeming 

 instances. In fact, a single or simple perianth is taken to be a calyx, 

 unless the absence or abortion of a calyx can be made evident. 



252. In contradistinction to 

 regular and symmetrical, very 

 many flowers are 



Irregular, that is, with the 

 members of some or all of the 

 floral circles unequal or dissim- 

 ilar, and 



Unsymmetrical, that is, when 

 the circles of the flower or 

 some of them differ in the num- 

 ber of their members. (Sym- 

 metrical and unsymmetrical are 

 used in a different sense in some 

 recent books, but the older use 

 should be adhered to.) Want 

 of numerical symmetry and 

 irregularity commonly go to- 

 gether; and both are common. 

 Indeed, few flowers are entirely 



FIG. 233. Flower of Anemone Pennsylvanica; apetalous, hermaphrodite. 

 FIG. 234. Flower of Saururus or Lizard's-tail; naked, but hermaphrodite. 

 FIG. 235. Flower of Mustard. 236, Its stamens and pistil separate and enlarged. 

 FIG. 237. Flower of a Violet 238. Its calyx and corolla displayed: the five 

 smaller parts are the sepals; the five intervening larger ones are the petals 



