248 



THE FLOWER. 



290) are united below into a solid body, while their summits, as 

 well as the styles, are separate. The same plant also furnishes an 

 example of the non-production (or suppression) of one whorl of 

 organs, that of the petals ; which, although said to exist in some 

 specimens, are ordinarily wanting altogether. Another instance of 

 increase in the number of parts occurs in the Houseleek (Semper- 

 vivum), in which the sepals, petals, and pistils vary in different 

 species from six to twenty, and the stamens from twelve to forty. 



450. Some illustrations of the principal diversities of the flower, 

 as classified above (447), may be drawn at random from different 

 families of plants ; and most of the technical terms necessarily 

 employed in describing these modifications may be introduced, and 

 concisely defined, as we proceed. The multiplication of parts is 

 usually in consequence of the 



451. Augmentation of the Floral Circles, An increased number of 

 circles or parts of all the floral organs occurs in the Magnolia 

 Family ; where the floral envelopes occupy three or four rows, of 

 three leaves in each, to be divided between the calyx and corolla, 

 while the stamens and pistils are very numerous, and compactly 

 arranged on the elongated receptacle. The Custard-Apple Fami- 

 ly, which is much like the last, has also two circles in the corolla, 

 three petals in each, a great increase in the number of stamens, 

 and, in our Papaw (see Ord. Anonacese), sometimes only one circle 

 of pistils, viz. 3, sometimes twice, thrice, or as many as five times 



FIG. 287. Flower of Grammanthes. 



FIG. 288. Flower of a Cotyledon. 289. The corolla laid open, showing the two rows of 

 stamens inserted into it. 



FIG. 290. The five pistils of Penthorum united, so as to form a compound ovary. 291. A 

 cross-section of the same. 



