The Angiosperms 155 



of most flowers, may be quite absent or represented 

 only by inconspicuous scales. There is much dif- 

 ference of opinion as to the nature of these very 

 simple flowers. Some of them may be explained 

 as reductions from a more perfect type; but such 

 an explanation is not satisfactory in the case of 

 other forms, and most botanists believe that the 

 simple characters of many of these " apetalous " 

 flowers are really primitive (Figs. 17, 18). 



The Typical Angiospermous Flower. In much 

 the greater number of Angiosperms the flowers are 

 " hermaphrodite," " perfect," or to use the more ac- 

 curate term, " amphisporangiate," having both 

 stamens and carpels. Moreover, these flowers pos- 

 sess usually a conspicuous floral envelope, which 

 may consist of nearly uniform colored leaves, as in 

 the lilies, or which may be differentiated into a green 

 " calyx " and a highly colored " corolla." There 

 are a number of types, both among monocotyledons 

 and dicotyledons, in which the flower consists of 

 an indefinite number of quite separate parts, the 

 carpels also being entirely free from each other. 

 Such flowers are known as " apocarpous " ones. 

 The magnolia, buttercup, and arrow-head are exam- 

 ples of such apocarpous flowers (Figs. 17, B; 18, 

 C). These flowers show a repetition of parts, espe- 

 cially in the stamens and carpels, while in the more 

 usual floral types there is a definite number of parts 

 with a tendency towards reduction in the number 

 of stamens and carpels, and the carpels are also 



