74 



ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY. 



one of these from the rest and cut it across. It will be 

 found to contain several ovules, and 

 is, in fact, an ovary, the point at the 

 top being a stigma. In the autumn 

 a great change will have taken 

 place in the appearance of plants 

 like the one we are now examining. 

 The arched hood will have dis- 

 appeared, as also the long naked 

 top of the column, whilst the part 

 below, upon which we are now en- 

 gaged, will have vastly increased in 



O O * * 



size, and become a compact ball of 

 red berries. There can be no doubt, 

 then, that we have 

 here a structure anal- 

 ogous to that found 

 in the Cucumber and 



the Willow, the fertile, or pistillate, 

 flowers being clustered together separate- 

 ly. But in the Cucumber all the flowers 

 were observed to be furnished with calyx 

 and corolla, and in the Willow catkins, 

 though floral envelopes were absent, each 

 pair of stamens and each pistil was sub- 

 tended by a bract. In the present plant 

 there are no floral envelopes, nor does 

 each pistil arise from a separate bract. 



95. But, you will now ask, what is this sheathing 

 hood which we find wrapped about our column of pistils? 



Fijj. 95. Spathe of Indian Turnip. 

 Fig. 96. Fertile spadix of the same. Fig. 97. Steviie spadix. 



Fig. 95. 



