()6 REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. CHAP. III. 



the base, but terminating in a strap-shaped border, 

 as in the florets of the Dandelion and many of the 

 compound flowers ; or labiate, that is divided into 

 segments resembling lips, as in Woundwort and 

 Wood Betony ; or ringent, that is labiate, and ex- 

 hibiting a slight resemblance to the open mouth of 

 an animal, as in common Skull-cap; or personate, 

 that is ringent in form, but having the mouth shut, 

 as in Snap-dragon. 



Polypeta- The individual petals of the polypetalous corolla 

 are, like the monopetalous corolla itself, divisible into 

 distinct parts ; which in the present case are, how- 

 ever, only two the claw and the border. The 

 claw is the lower portion of the petal ; the border 

 is the upper portion. In some petals the claw is 

 extremely short, serving merely as a point of at- 

 tachment to the receptacle, as in the Rose ; in others 

 it is long and conspicuous, as in the Pink. The 

 border is upright, as in Arabis stricta ; or expand- 

 ing, as in Silene nutans ; or horizontal, as in Arabis 

 hispida. The petals are also equal or unequal in 

 their size or shape, constituting, like the segments of 

 the monopetalous corolla, regular and irregular 

 flowers. 



Sometimes a tetrapetalous corolla has its petals so 

 disposed as to exhibit a slight resemblance to a cross 

 (P/. IV. Fig. Q.), in which case the flower is said 

 to be cruciform ; and may be exemplified in the 

 Stock or Wall-flower. Sometimes the petals of a 

 tetrapetalous corolla are irregular, and disposed so 

 6 



