276 THE FLOWER. 



486. Abnormal States Of the Receptacle of the flower remain to be 

 mentioned, as obscuring more or less the normal condition, or as 

 giving a singular appearance to the blossom. One of the most 

 remarkable cases of the enlargement of the receptacle is that of the 

 Nelumbium, where it is dilated into a large top-shaped body, nearly 

 inclosing the pistils in separate cavities 

 (Fig. 351). Sometimes it is hollowed out 

 above, as well as dilated, as in the Rose, 

 where the whole receptacle expands into 

 an urn-shaped disk, invested by the adnate 

 tube of the calyx, and bearing the petals 

 and stamens on its border and the numer- 

 ous pistils on the concave surface (Ord. 

 Rosaceae). It is much the same in Caly- 

 canthus (Ord. Calycanthacese). In Gera- 

 nium, and many allied plants, the receptacle, which elevates the 

 ovaries more or less, is prolonged between them, and coheres with 

 their styles (Ord. Geraniacese). There is nearly a similar pro- 

 longation in Euphorbia (Fig. 348). Here there is some develop- 

 ment of the axis beyond the proper insertion of the floral organs. 

 Usually the floral internodes remain undeveloped or extremely 

 short, like those of scaly leaf-buds (Fig. 127). But now arid then 

 some of them are elongated ; as in the Pink and Silene, where the 

 internode between the calyx and the co- 

 rolla forms a conspicuous stalk, elevating 

 the other parts of the flower in the tube 

 of the calyx ; while in many Gentians 

 (Ord. Gentianacese) the internode above 

 the circle of stamens is developed, rais- 

 ing the pod on a stalk of its own. This 

 is a common case in the Caper Family ; 

 in which the genus Gynandropsis (Fig. 

 352) exhibits a remarkable development 

 of the whole receptacle. It is enlarged 

 into a flattened disk where it bears the 

 petals, and is then prolonged into a con- 

 spicuous stalk which bears the stamens (or rather, perhaps, to 



FIG. 351. The enlarged receptacle of Nelumbium. 



FIG. 352. Flower of Gynandropsis, showing an elongated receptacle, which separates the 

 different sets of organs. 



