260 THE FLOWER. 



the Cherry, the Buckthorn (Fig. 314, 315), &c. The same term 

 is often applied to the calyx when it is adnate to the base of the 

 ovary, in which case it necessarily carries the petals and stamens 

 with it. Very frequently the calyx invests and coheres with the 

 whole surface of the ovary, so that all the parts of the flower seem 

 to grow out of its summit ; as in the Honeysuckle, the Dogwood, 

 (Fig. 240, a), the Valerian, &c. The organs which thus appar- 

 ently arise from the top of the ovary are said to be epigynous 

 (literally on the pistil) ; a case of which is 

 shown in Fig. 316. The earlier botanists 

 called the flower, or calyx, in such cases, 

 superior, and the ovary and fruit, inferior ; 

 and when no such combination occurs, the 

 flower, or calyx, &e., was said to be infe- 

 rior, and the ovary, superior. But these 

 terms are nearly, and should be altogether, 

 superseded by the equivalent and more ap- 

 propriate expressions of calyx adherent in the one case, and calyx 

 free in the other ; or that of ovary coherent with the calyx, and 

 ovary free from the calyx, which is the same thing in other words. 



467. The various parts of the flower, thus consolidated, may 

 separate into their integral elements at the point where they be- 

 come free from the ovary, as in Cornus (Fig. 240) ; or else re- 

 main variously combined ; the calyx being frequently prolonged 

 into a tube with which the petals and stamens cohere, as in the 

 Evening Primrose (Ord. Qnagracea?), where the united sepals 

 form a long and slender tube, bearing the petals and stamens on 

 its summit. In most cases, where the corolla is gamopetalous, the 

 stamens continue their adhesion to it ; while in the Orchis Family 

 they are free from the corolla, but adherent to the pistil, or gynan- 

 drous. 



468. Irregularity, from unequal development or unequal union. 

 The Pea tribe affords a familiar illustration of irregular flowers, 

 arising from the unequal size and dissimilar form of the floral en- 

 velopes ; especially of the corolla, which, from a fancied resem- 

 blance to a butterfly in the flower of the Pea, &c., has been called 

 papilionaceous. The petals of such a corolla are distinguished by 



FIG. 316, Vertical section through a flower of Aralia nudicaulis, showing the calyx adnate 

 to the whole surface of the compound pistil, on the summit of which the petals and stamens 

 are accordingly inserted. 



