LESSON 19.] 



THE RECEPTACLE. 



rally from the receptacle, curving upwards with a sudden jerk, which 

 scatters the seed, often throwing it to a considerable distance. 



330. When a flower 

 bears a great many pis- 

 tils, its receptacle is gen- 

 erally enlarged so as to 

 give them room ; some- 

 times becoming broad 

 and flat, as in the Flow- 

 ering Raspberry, some- 

 times elongated, as in 

 the Blackberry, the Mag- 

 nolia, &c. It is the re- 

 ceptacle in the Straw- 

 berry (Fig. 279), much 



enlarged and pulpy when ripe, which forms the eatable part of the 

 fruit, and bears the small seed-like pistils on itb 

 surface. In the Rose (Fig. 280), instead of being 

 convex or conical, the receptacle is deeply con* 

 cave, or urn-shaped. Indeed, a Rose-hip may be 

 likened to a strawberry turned inside out, like 

 the finger of a glove reversed, and the whole 

 covered by the adherent tube of the calyx, which 

 remains beneath in the strawberry. 



331. A Disk is a part of the re- 

 ceptacle, or a growth from it, en- 

 larged under or around the pistil. 

 It is hypogynous (269), when free 

 from all union either with the pistil 

 or the calyx, as in the Rue and the 

 Orange (Fig. 281), It is perigy- 

 nous (270), when it adheres to the 

 base of the calyx, as in the Bladder-nut and Buckthorn (Fig. 282, 



FIG. 276. Flower of Gynandropsis , the receptacle enlarged and flattened where it bears 

 the sepals and petals, then elongated into a slender stalk, bearing the stamens (in appearance, 

 but they are inonadelphous) above its middle, and a compound ovary on its summit. 



FIG. 277. Young fruit of the common Wild Cranesbill. 



FIG- 278. The same, ripe, with the five pistils splitting away from the long beak or recep 

 tacle, and hanging from its top by their styles. 



FIG. 279. Longitudinal section of a young strawberry, enlarged. 



FIG. 280. Similar section of a young Rose-hip 



FIG. 281. Pistil of the Orange, with a large hypogynous disk at its base. 

 11* 



