390 TOKUS. [BOOK i. 



or for a common type of the sexual organs of Phsenogainous 

 plants. (Linn. Trans, xix. 225.) 



12. Of the Receptacle. 



The part upon which the carpels are seated is the apex of 

 the peduncle, or the summit of the floral branch, of which the 

 carpels are the termination. Usually this part, which is 

 called the receptacle, is flat, or merely a vanishing point ; but 

 in other cases it is very much dilated, and then assumes a 

 variety of curious appearances. This receptacle is called torus, 

 or thalamus as well as receptaculum, and in Greek compounds 

 has the name of clinium. 



In Anonads and Magnoliads it elevates itself from the base 

 of the calyx, and bears the numerous stamens peculiar to 

 these orders ; here it is called gonophore (gonophorum) by 

 De Candolle. When it is succulent and much dilated, so as 

 to resemble the receptacle of a Composite, bearing at the 

 same time many ovaries, as in the Strawberry and Raspberry, 

 Richard calls it polyphore : most commonly such a receptacle 

 is sufficiently described by the adjective fleshy. If only a 

 single row of carpels developes upon such a receptacle, as in 

 Ochna, and there is an oblique inclination of the carpels 

 towards the axis of the flower, we have the gynobase (Plate 

 V. fig. 3. a] ; in the Geranium this part is remarkable for 

 being lengthened into a tapering woody cone to which the 

 styles adhere in the form of a beak ; in Nelumbium it is ex- 

 cavated into a number of cavities, in which the ovaries are 

 half-hidden. The receptacle is in reality the growing point 

 of the flower bud, and is analogous to the spongy head of 

 the spadix in Arum, and to the hard spines of the Blackthorn. 



In all cases of central placentation the placenta is an 

 extension of the receptacle, whose processes are introduced 

 through the base of the carpels into their cavity, as has been 

 shown by the evidence collected in the preceding pages. 



In Cloveworts (Caryophyllacese) an internode below the 

 receptacle is elongated, and bears on its summit the petals 

 and stamens; De Candolle calls this anthophore (antho- 

 phorum.) 



