72 PART I. — ORGANOGRAPHY. 



Painted-cup and in some Euphorbias. These should not be 

 confounded with the floral organs proper. 



The Corolla. This is usually the most showy portion of the 

 flower. It is seldom green in color, but, like the sepals of the 

 calyx, its parts often bear more or less resem- 

 blance in shape to leaves. In some instances §Wm a 



all the parts of a complete leaf may still be \lflw7 



recognized in them, as, for example, in the petals \Hf. b 



of the Saponaria, Fig. 213. The upper or ex- 

 panded portion evidently corresponds to the 

 blade of a leaf and, like it, is termed the lamina. 

 At the junction of the latter with the lower or 

 stalk-like portion are observed two little proiec- 



r r * Fig. 213. — Petal 



tions, b, which, in the form of winsr-like append- ° f saponaria, one 



' ' ' ° vv of the Pink fam- 



ages, may be traced downward nearly to the base »y- «. blade; b, 



r 1 11 mi i 1 ii . corona; c, claw. 



of the stalk. These undoubtedly represent stip- 

 ules, and their free portion is technically called the corona. 

 The stalk, c, in this case made up of petiole and the adherent 

 portion of the stipules, is called the claw or unguis. In the 

 great majority of petals, however, the corona is wanting, and 

 in many cases also the claw. There is reason to believe, 

 moreover, that the lamina is not in all cases a modified leaf- 

 blade. In some instances it is rather to be regarded as a 

 modified stipule, the petiole and blade having become aborted. 

 In some species of Rose, for example, we may trace in the 

 leaves beneath the flower a gradual transition, as the inflores- 

 cence is approached, between leaves that are complete and 

 those which have entirely lost their blades and petioles, and 

 have come to consist wholly of well-developed stipules. In 

 case such petals are clawed, the claw, of course, is not to be 

 regarded as a petiole, but as a stalk-like contraction of the base 

 of the stipule. 



The lamina is most commonly a flat expansion, resembling in 

 this respect the majority of leaf-blades, but this is not always the 

 case; it may be thread-like or filiform, club-shaped or clavate, 

 spurred or calcarate, sac-shaped or saccate, etc. The flattened 

 kinds present almost as great a variety of shapes as those of leaf- 

 blades, and, like them, may have their margins entire or vari- 

 ously indented, incised, lobed, parted or fringed. The terms 



