THE FlOWER. 



227 



CHAPTER IX. 



OF THE FLOWER. 



SECT. I. ITS ORGANS, OR COMPONENT PARTS. 



414. HAVING glanced at the circumstances which attend 'and 

 control the production of flowers, and considered the laws which 

 govern their arrangement, we have next to inquire what the flower 

 is composed of. 



415. The Flower (110, 111) assumes an endless variety of forms 

 in different species, so that it is very difficult properly to define it. 

 The name was earliest applied, as it is still in popular language 

 generally applied, to the delicate and gayly-colored leaves of petals, 

 so different from the sober green of the foliage. But the petals, 

 and all these bright hues, are entirely wanting in many flowers, 

 while ordinary leaves sometimes assume the brilliant coloring of 

 the blossom. The stamens and pistils are the characteristic or- 

 gans of the flower ; but sometimes one or the 



other of these disappear from a particular flow- 

 er, and both are absent from full double Roses, 

 Camellias, &c., in which we have only a regu- 

 lar rosette of delicate leaves. This, however, 

 is an unnatural state, the consequence of con- 

 tinued cultivation. 



416. A complete flower consists of the essen- 

 tial organs of reproduction (viz. stamens and 

 pistils, 110), surrounded by two sets of leaves 

 or envelopes which protect them. (Fig. 256.) 

 The latter are of course exterior or lower than 

 the former, which in the bud they inclose. 



417. The Floral Envelopes, then, are of two 



sorts, and occupy two circles, one above or ^ 



within the other. Those of the lower circle, 



the exterior envelope in the flower-bud, form the CALYX : they com- 



FIG. 256. The complete flower of a Crassula. 257. Diagram of its cross-section in the bud, 

 showing the relative position of its parts. The five pieces of the exterior circle are sections of 

 the sepals; the next, of the petals; the third, of the stamens through their anthers; the inner- 

 most, of the five pistils. 



