IU 



THE INFLORESCENCE. 



Fig. 208, representing the coBrersion of stamens 

 into petals, in the Wafer-lily (Nymplnva alba). 



Hon which lie immediately within the corolla. In thjs mode the number of stamen, 

 diminishes in proportion as that of the petals increases ; and this transformation may 

 readily be traced in any garden rose. The gradual conversion of the one into the othei 

 is well exhibited in Fig. 208. 



It thus becomes evident that the 

 number of the petals can seldom be em- 

 ployed with certainty as a distinctive 

 mark in the classification of plants. But 

 yet it is not without its value in such 

 plants as retain their natural habits ; and 

 the more so when it is known that any 

 increase is usually that of a multiple of 

 the original number, as that five petals 

 become ten or fifteen. 



In respect of position, the corolla naturally places itself below the ovary (Fig. 208) ; 

 but whenever it is so attached to the side of the ovary, so that it separates itself only 

 when above that organ, the relative terms of superior and inferior are still employed. 

 Thus all corollas are said to be either superior or inferior. 



As a petal is the analogue of the leaf, it is probable that it will have similar parts ; 

 and thus we describe the expanded part as the lamina y and the contracted part by which 

 it is inserted as the unguis, or claw. In many instances, as in the rose, there is no unguia, 

 just as many leaves are destitute of petioles; whilst in many others the claw is seve- 

 ral times the length of the lamina, as in the pink, and the petal is termed unguiculate. 

 The short claw of the petal of the Crowfoot (Ranunculus) has on its inner surface a 

 small gland which secretes honey, and is a true nectarium (page 69), but which may 

 probably be a modified stamen. 



The forms of the corolla are extremely numerous, as is familiar to every one, and 

 require special designations. If we first examine a monopetalous corolla we find three 

 parts, which, by their variations, give variety of 

 form. First, there is the expanded portion, which 

 consists of a series of laminae, connected at their 

 margins, and which has its free border more or 

 less indented or divided in such 

 a manner that the divisions are 

 regular or irregular (Fig. 210) ; 

 secondly, the tube, constituted 

 of the united edges of the claws ; 

 and, thirdly, the point at which 

 the tube is inserted, or expands 

 into the expanded laminae, which 

 is termed the/aw^; or throat. In 

 a few instances, other parts enter 

 into the formation of a corolla, 

 as the corona or cup observed 



around the throat of the Narcissus (Fig. 209), and the true Nectaria, 

 Fig. 209 The corona, or honey spots, so well known to the honey-bee. A campanulate, or 

 SroIidj rCi86 ic bell-shaped corolla (Fig. 210 a), as in the Campanula, has little 

 tluoat. or no tube ; and BO in like manner with the flattened rotate cr 



Fig. 210. , a regular, and b, an 

 irregular corolla. 



