302 



TYPICAL FLOWERING PLANTS 



petals, stamens, and pistil — are complete. As we have seen, 

 they are also perfect because they have in the same flower 

 stamens and pistil, the parts necessary for the production 

 of seed. An imperfect flower may be staminate, having 

 only stamens, like the tassel of the corn, or pistillate, hav- 

 ing only pistils, like the ear of the corn (Figure 312). 

 So an incomplete flower may lack either sepals or, as is 

 more common, petals. Hepatica is an example of a flower 

 which lias no petals, but its sepals are colored. 



Regular flowers are those in which all the parts of the 

 same kind are the same size and shape, as in the blossom 

 of the apple. In irregular flowers all the petals or sepals 

 are not of the same shape. The bean is an irregular 

 flower, and so is the violet. 



Cleistogamous flowers (klis-tog'a-mus : Greek, klistos, 

 closed ; gamos, marriage) are found in the violet (Figure 

 313) and pansy in addition to the flowers of the ordinary 

 type. These are formed underground near the surface, 

 have no colored parts, usually only one stamen, and they 

 never open. They produce many seeds, however. 



FIELD AND LABORATORY STUDY 



Study flowers in field and laboratory, and record the results, using the 

 following table as guide. 



Geranium . 

 Castor bean 

 Salvia . . 

 Nasturtium 

 Pansy . 

 Etc. . . 



c ~ 

 ■J w 



