xxxiv Definitions. 



one that has no stamens,a/emaZe^<n';er; the great majority of flowers 

 have both organs, and are therefore called hermaphrodite. Some- 

 times the male and female flowers are distinct, some being without 

 pistil, others without stamens (see orders Menispermacece and Cucurbi- 

 tacece). When the sexes are thus distinct but on the same plant, the 

 flowers are called monoecious ; when distinct but on different plants, 

 dioecious ; when male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers are all found 

 either on the same or different plants, they are called polygamous. 



30. Stamens, which vary from one to an indefinite number, are 

 always for the whole or a great part of their length inside the 

 corolla, but their attachment to corolla calyx or disk is a matter 

 of importance in classification. Stamens are said to be hypogynous 

 when they are inserted below the ovary ; epigynous when inserted 

 upon the ovary; perigynous when, by being attached to the calyx, 

 they surround the ovary. The same terms are sometimes applied to 

 petals under similar circumstances 



31. The stamen consists of stalk or filament, 1 surmounted by 

 the anther, which is generally a round or oblong body. When 

 the filaments are absent the anthers are sessile. The anthers 

 are generally divided into two cells, comparatively seldom visible to 

 the naked eye ; these cells are sometimes distant from one another, 

 and are then joined by a connective (see Melastoma). The anthers are 

 filled and covered with a yellow dust, pollen, which fertilizes the 

 pistil. The stamens are said to be included when more or less con- 

 cealed in the corolla tube, exserted when they protrude beyond the 

 level of the petals. 



32. When several stamens are united either into a column (as in 

 Malvacece) or into a tube (as in Meliacece), or more loosely, they are 

 called monadelphous, when in two columns or parcels (as in many of 

 the Leguminosse) diadelphous. When there are four stamens in two 

 pairs, one pair longer than the other, they are called didynamous, as 

 in Labiates and other orders; when there are six stamens, two pairs 

 longer and one pair shorter, as in Cruciferce, they are tetradynamous. 



33. The pistil occupies the exact centre of the flower, and though 

 there is said to be never more than one, yet many flowers, e.g. all 

 the Ranunculaceee, have a number of carpels so slightly united as to 

 appear to be so many distinct pistils, and these separate carpels 

 sometimes produce separate fruits, e.g. Saccopetalum. Some authors 

 call the pistil simple when it consists of a single carpel, compound 

 when it consists of more than one. In the first case the terms pistil 

 and carpel are synonymous. 



34. The pistil when undivided consists of the ovary, the lowest 

 part, the style, which corresponds to the filament in a stamen, and 

 the stigma, which corresponds to the anther. Each carpel may be 

 composed exactly as an undivided pistil, and a single ovary may 

 have more than one style, and a style more than one stigma. In 

 many cases the styles are wanting, so that the stigma is setsile on 

 the ovary; and very often the stigmas are not to the naked eye 



1 Promfilum, a thread, from which comes also the the term filiform, 

 or thread-like, applied to various very small and delicate parts of 

 flowers. 



