INDIAN TURNIP. 



75 



There is no doubt that we must look upon it as a bract, 

 because from its base the flower-cluster springs. So that, 

 whilst the flowers of Indian Turnip are, like those of 

 Willow, imperfect and dioecious, the clusters differ in 

 having but a single bract instead of a bract under each 

 flower. 



96. We must now examine one of the other specimens ; 

 and we shall have no difficulty in determining the nature 

 of the bodies which, in this case, cover the base of the 

 column. They are evidently stamens, and your magni- 

 fying-glass will show you that they consist mostly of an- 

 thers, the filaments being extremely short, and that 

 some of the anthers are two-celled and some four-celled, 

 all discharging their pollen through little holes at the 

 top of the cells. 



INDIAN TUENIP. 



97. The column upon which, in plants like Indian 

 Turnip, the flowers are crowded, is known as a spadix, 

 and the surrounding bract as a spathe. 



You will observe that the leaves of this plant are net- 

 veined, as we found them in the Trillium. 



