280 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. IX. 



SECTION XVII. ON THE COROLLA, ITS PAETS AND 

 MODIFICATIONS. 



As the calyx may be made up of one sepal, in which case it is 

 termed monosepalous, or of many sepals, in which case it is 

 termed polysepalous, so the corolla may be made up of one or 

 many parts called petals. In the former case a monopetalous, 

 in the latter a polypetalous, flower results. Even the most 

 casual observer of flowers must have noticed some of the various 

 modifications of form and arrangement to which petals are 

 subject. Hence have 

 arisen various botani- 

 cal designations, some 

 of which we shall now 

 proceed to explain. In 

 the disposition and ar- 

 rangement of petals, 

 those which assume the 

 cross form are very con- 

 spicuous. Vegetables 

 of the cabbage tribe, 

 indeed, including tur- 

 nips, watercresses, and 

 many others, have had 

 the botanical designa- 

 tion cruciform or cru- 

 <:ij'erous (Latin crux, 

 f.i-ucis, a cross, and/ero, 

 I bear) given to them 

 from this very circum- 

 stance (Pig. 89). The 

 rosaceous disposition of 

 petals is also very well 

 marked, not only being 

 observable in the wild 

 roses, but being shared 

 by numerous other ve- 

 getables. The straw- 

 berry flower, for exam- 

 ple, is rosaceous in the 

 disposition of its petals 

 (Fig. 90). The long 

 tapering claw which cer- 

 tain petals have is also 

 highly characteristic, 

 and gives rise to corollse 

 which are said to be 

 caryophyllate, from re- 

 sembling that of the 

 pink Dianthus caryo- 

 phyllus. Of this the 

 lychnis (Fig. 91) fur- 

 nishes us with an exam- 

 ple. The papilionaceous 

 (Latin, papilio, a but- 

 terfly) corolla consti- 

 tutes an exceedingly 

 well - marked natural 

 division, the name being 

 acquired from the cir- 

 cumstance that they re- 

 semble a butterfly in 

 general appearance. No 

 person, we are sure, who has ever seen a pea-flower and who has 

 not ? can have failed to be struck with the marked resemblance 

 in question. Hence the technical name papilionaceae has been 

 applied by botanists to plants bearing such flowers. Our dia- 

 gram (Fig. 92) represents the flower of a common garden pea. 



Such are amongst the chief of the modes in which the petals of 

 polypetalous flowers are arranged. Monopetalous corollas evi- 

 dently do not admit of these variations, since they only consist 

 of one organ ; nevertheless, so numerous are the forms which 

 these one-petaled corollas assume, that many distinctions may be 

 drawn between them. Thus, for example, we have tubular, from 

 the Latin tubulus, the diminutive of tubus, a pipe (Fig. 93) ; in- 

 fundibuliform (Latin, infundibulum, a funnel), or funnel-shaped 

 (Fig. 94); hypocrateriform (Greek, viroKparitp [hu-po-cra-teer], 



a saucer, from into under, and Kparyp a cup), or saucer-shaped 

 (Fig. 97); campanulate (Italian, campana, a bell), or bell-shaped 

 (Fig. 95) ; rotate (Latin, rota, a wheel), or wheel-shaped (Fig. 98) ; 

 labiate (Lat., labium, a lip), or lip-shaped (Fig. 96) ; personate 

 (Lat., persona, a mask), or mask-like (Fig. 100) ; and ligulate 

 (Lat., ligula, astrap), or strap- shaped (Fig. 101 ) flowers. When ir- 

 regular corollas are neither labiate, nor personate, nor ligulate, they 

 are sometimes called anomalous, from the Greek o, negative, and 

 6/j.a\os (hom-a-los), equal or similar, as in the fox-glove (Fig. 99). 

 SECTION XVIII. ON FRUITS AND THEIR VARIETIES. 

 We have already remarked that the female parts of a flower 



are termed carpels, 

 from Kapiros, fruit, be- 

 cause fruit is the result 

 of the development. 

 Sometimes the ovary 

 alone becomes deve- 

 loped into the fruit, but 

 occasionally other parts 

 of the flower attach 

 themselves to the ovary, 

 and thus become incor- 

 porated with its sub- 

 stance, helping to form 

 the fruit. In the ma- 

 jority of cases fruit will 

 not ripen except the 

 ovary has been fertil- 

 ised ; but many excep- 

 tions occur to this rule. 

 Thus certain varieties 

 of oranges, grapes, and 

 pine-apples ripen freely 

 enough, although the 

 ovaries from which they 

 spring have never been 

 fertilised, and conse- 

 quently they bear no 

 seed. Now, even in or- 

 dinary language, we 

 employ various terms 

 to denominate various 

 kinds of fruit : it fol- 

 lows, therefore, that 

 since botanists recog- 

 nise many growths as 

 fruits which we in or- 

 dinary language fail to 

 dignify by that pleas- 

 ing term, many botani- 

 cal designations become 

 necessary. There are 

 two methods of commu- 

 nicating to the reader 

 these distinctions. The 

 first is by telling in 

 what the distinctions 

 consist ; the second by 

 showing the various 

 forms which result. Per- 

 haps the latter method 

 will, of the two, be the 

 more simple. We shall 

 therefore give drawings 

 of some of the chief varieties of fruit, which are as follow : 



Pomes, or fruits resembling apples (Fig. 102) ; drupes, or 

 fruits resembling cherries, peaches, plums, so called from falling 1 

 from the tree when ripe the term drupe being derived from 

 the Greek Spvirirct (drup'-pa), an over-ripe olive, or SpvirfT-qs 

 (dru'-pet-ees), quite ripe, which is derived from Spur (clroos),an oak 

 or tree, and wiirru (pip'-to), to fall (Fig. 103) ; the achanium 

 (from the Greek a, negative, and xatvta [fci'-?io], to gape), a term 

 applied to hard, dry fruits, such as the fruit of the ranunculus, 

 which do not adhere to the shell or pericarp, and do not open 

 when ripe (Fig. 104) ; the caryopsis (from Kapvov [kar'-ru-on^, & 

 nut, and oirrw [op' -to], to see), a small, dry, seed-like fruit which 

 coheres inseparably with the seed within, as in buckwheat 

 (Fig. 105); fae follicle (from the Latin J'olUeulus, the diminutive 



CRUCIFORM COROLLA OF THE CELANDINE. 90. ROSACEOUS COROLLA OF THE STRAW- 

 BERRY. 91. CARYOPHYLLATE COBOLLA OF THE LYCHNIS. 92. PAPILIONACEOUS COROLLA 

 OF THE PEA. 93. TUBULAR COROLLA OF THE CORN CENTAURY. 94. INFUNDIBULIFORM 

 COROLLA OF TEE BINDWEED. 95. CAMPANULATB COROLLA OF THE CAMPANULA. 96. 

 LABIATE COROLLA OF THE DEAD-NETTLE. 97. HYPOCRATERIFORM COROLLA OF THE 

 PERIWINKLE. 98. ROTATE COROLLA OF THE PIMPERNEL. 99. ANOMALOUS COROLLA 

 OF THE FOXGLOVE. 100. PERSONATE COBOLLA OF THE SNAPDRAGON. 101. LIGULATE 

 COROLLA OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM., 



