162 



THE AMERICAN COWSLIP. 



and a naked columnar scape supporting an involucrate um- 

 bel, is the ideal of floral grace and beauty. 



The fashion of the Flowers is like that of the garden 

 Cyclamen, otherwise unique, suggesting the thought of a 

 shooting star or a bird on the wing. This effect is due to the 

 white petals so sharply re- 

 flexed, while the stamens and 

 style project forward in the 

 form of a parti-colored beak 

 or an arrow-head.* 



Analysis. THE LEAF 

 EEGION. The root is a dense 



FIQ. XLIII. Dodecatheon Mefidia: 2, a flower with pistil undeveloped; 3, a flower, 

 full size, with the pistil ; 4, dissection, showing the free-central placenta, &c. ; 5, the 

 pyxis of Anagallis ; 6, the plan of the flower. 



mass of branching fibers issuing from the perennial crown, 

 and striking deep into the soil. The stem (the crown 

 already mentioned) is wholly subterranean, and destitute of 



* In the Dodecatheon we find two types of flower (dimorphism). In some the pis- 

 til is long and flush with the throat of the corolla, and the stamens are fixed half way 

 down the sides ; in others, the pistil is short and the stamens are attached to the throat 

 of the corolla. One form has thus the pistil where the other has the stamens. This 

 was long thought to be a mere freak of nature ; but it is now known to be another 



