124 



THE RECEPTACLE. 



[LESSON 19. 



ovules ; Fig. 274, an orthotropous, Fig. 275, an anatropous ovule. 

 The letters correspond in the two ; c, the chalaza ; f, the orifice ; 

 r, rhaphe (of which there is of course none in Fig. 274) ; />, the 

 outer coat, called primine ; s, inner coat, called secundine ; n, nu- 

 cleus or kernel. 



LESSON XIX. 



MORPHOLOGY OF THE RECEPTACLE. 



327. THE RECEPTACLE (also called the Torus) is the axis, or 

 stem, which the leaves and other parts of the blossom are attached 

 to (231). It is commonly small and short (as in Fig. 169) ; but it 

 sometimes occurs in more conspicuous and remarkable forms. 



328. Occasionally it is elongated, as in some plants of the Caper 

 family (Fig. 276), making the flower really look like a branch, hav- 

 ing its circles of leaves, stamens, &c., separated by long spaces or 

 internodes. 



329. The Wild Geranium or Cranesbill has the receptacle pro- 

 longed above and between the insertion of the pistils, in the form 

 of a slender beak. In the blossom, and until the fruit is ripe, it 

 is concealed by the five pistils united around it, and their flat styles 

 covering its whole surface (Fig. 277). But at maturity, the five 

 small and one-seeded fruits separate, and so do their styles, from the 

 beak, and hang suspended from the summit. They split off elasti- 



