LESSON 15.] 



IRREGULARITY OF PARTS. 



105 



273. But if the tube of the calyx ends immediately at the summit 

 of the ovary, and its lobes as well as the corolla and stamens are as 

 it were inserted directly on the ovary, they are said to be epigynous 

 (meaning on the pistil), as in Cornel, the Huckleberry, and the Cran- 

 berry (Fig. 216). 



274. Irregularity of Parts in the calyx and corolla has already been 

 noticed (244) as sometimes obstructing one's view of the real plan of 

 a flower. There is infinite variety in this respect ; but what has 

 already been said will enable the student to understand these irreg- 

 ularities when they occur. We have only room to mention one or 

 two cases which have given rise to 



particular names. A very common 

 kind, among polypetalous (267) 

 flowers, is 



275. The Papilionaceous flower 

 of the Pea, Bean, and nearly all 

 that family. In this we have an 



irregular corolla of a peculiar shape, which Linnaeus likened to a 

 butterfly (whence the term, papilio being the Latin name for a but- 

 terfly) ; but the resemblance is 

 not very obvious. The five pet- 

 als of a papilionaceous corolla 

 (Fig. 217) have received different 

 names taken from widely different 

 objects. The upper and larger 

 petal (Fig. 218, s), which is gen- 

 erally wrapped round all the rest 

 in the bud, is called the standard 

 or banner. The two side petals 

 (w) are called the wings. And 

 the two anterior ones (&), the 

 blades of which commonly stick 

 together a little, and which en- 

 close the stamens and pistil in the flower, from their forming a 

 body shaped somewhat like the keel, or rather the prow, of an 

 ancient boat, are together named the keel. 



276. The Labiate or bilabiate (that is, two-lipped) flower is a very 

 common form of the monopetalous corolla, as in the Snapdragon 



FIG. 217. Front view of the papilionaceous corolla of the Locust-tree. 218. The parts o. 

 the same, displayed 



S&F 6 



