60 CAXYX. 



fruit. Like them sliould the young improve the bloom of hfe, so that when youth 

 and beauty shall fade away, their minds may exhibit that fruit which it is the 

 business of youth to nurture and mature. 



66. The Flower and its appendcujes. — ^llie essential organs of 

 reproduction in flinvering plants are \\\(i Floxoei^ the Fruit, and 

 the Seed. Tlie flower consists of wliorled leaves or verticils 

 placed on an axis called the tJialccmus or torus. Tliere are in 

 most perfect plants four of these whorls. It is the normal law 

 that each of these whorls is equal in number of parts, and al- 

 ternate in position. 



At Fig. G9, the calyx, a a, is composed of a whorl of five Fig. 6'J. 



equal sepals ; a corolla, h b, of the five petals in an inner whorl 

 alternating with the parts of the calyx ; five stamens, c c, in 

 a whorl within the corolla and between its parts and oppo- 

 site to the pieces of the calyx ; and the five parts of the pis- 

 til follow the same normal rule. 



Eut though in many cases it is easy to trace 

 this arrangement, there are irregularities pro- 

 duced by the unioii of one ])art with another 

 by the absorption or degeneration of some portions, and by the 

 multiplying {dediqMcation), or disguising of others in various 

 w^ays. Of the four whorls, the two outer are called floral en- 

 velojyes ; the two inner, essential organs. "When calyx and co- 

 rolla are both present, the 2:)lants are diMamydeous / when one 

 of these organs is wanting, monocMamydeoiis ; and when both 

 are wanting, acldamydeous. The manner in which sepals and 

 petals are situated in the flower-bud is termed their cestivation, 

 or prcBflo?rdion, wdiich is the same to the flower-bud as venation 

 is to the leaf-bud. This is valvate when the sepals or petals fit 

 by their edges, as in the petals of umbelliferous plants ; imbri- 

 cated when the outermost pieces cover the margins of the inner, 

 as in the calyx of the Hypericum ; twisted or contorted when 

 each piece overtops the next one and the wiiole apj^ears sj)i- 

 rally twisted. 



67. The calyx consists of verticillate leaves, called sqxds or 

 pJiylla. The calycine leaves are sometimes separate from each 

 other, in which case the calyx is polysepaloiis, or pohyj^hyllous ; 

 when the leaves of the calyx are united the calyx is said to be 

 gamosepaloiis or garnojjliyUous. 



a. Tlie calyx may be wanting, as in the lily and tulip. The corolla is also want- 

 ing in many plants ; as in most of the forest-trees, wliich to a careful observer may 

 seem to produce no flower; but the presence of a stamen and pistil, is in botany 

 considered as constituting a perfect foioer. These two organs are essential to the 

 perfection of the fruit; and wlien a flower is destitute either of stamens or pistils, 

 it is termed iinperfect. A flower is said to be incomplete when any of the seven 

 organs of fructification are wanting. The word calyx is derived from the Greek, 

 and literally signifies a cup ; it is the outer cover of the corolla, and usually green ; 



66. The flower — Normal law respecting its parts — Irregularities, how caused 1 — Names of the for.r 

 wliorls.— 67. Tlie calvx — a. Perfect or imperfect flower 



