SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



The calyx sometimes falls before the flower is full blown, as in the 

 poppy. Its lower portion is the " throat," and the shape of the organ varies, 

 as will be seen by the illustrations. 



Fig. 769. i. Tubular. 



4. Campanulate, or bell-shaped. 



4- 5- 



2. Clavate, or club-shaped. 

 5. Funnel-shaped. 



7. Globular. 



Tubinate, or top-shaped. 

 Urceolate, or urn-shaped. 



Fig. 770. Trimerous 

 corolla. 



The sepals are usually three to five in number. The poppy has two, 

 and .the well-known wall-flower four free that is, disunited sepals. The 

 primrose possesses five. The calyx is the outside rim of all, and we may 

 thus remember it, because its sepals alternate with the petals of the corolla. 

 The petals may be formed cup-fashion, as in the lily of the valley, and here 

 we have these sepals and petals in groups of three each. 



The petals differ from ordinary leaves, and in them we find all the 

 beautiful tints and the odour we imbibe from _____ 



blossoms. The forms of corolla correspond 

 to those of the calyx, and are called by the 

 same names. But when corollas are absent 

 the petals of course cannot provide the 

 necessary colours for the flower. Then the 

 calyx is gifted, and the sepals are brilliant 

 Thus Nature provides for everything. 

 Corollas are found with five or ten petals, and some- 

 times with three, six, and nine the numbers always doubling 

 or adding the original number. There may be four petals o r eight, as in 

 the " tetramerous " corolla (fig. 771). Instances of others are illustrated, 

 and a plant whose petals, sepals, and stamens 

 are numerically equal, or are multiples of each 

 other, are termed " symmetrical." The " regular " 

 flower does not vary much, as the petals are 

 of the same size and shape, but there are many 

 " irregular " flowers as the pea in which 

 portions of the calyx or corolla are of different 

 shapes. The "labiate" and the "campanulate " 

 are illustrated in figs. 774, 775, including the 

 convolvulus and the snap-dragon. These are 

 but a few examples of an almost endless diversity. The " regular " flowers 

 exemplified in the buttercup and convolvulus always present the same 

 figure to the observer. 



Fig. 771. Tetra- 

 merous. 



Fig. 772. Pentamerous 

 corolla. 



rolla - 



