CHAPTER VII. 



THE FLOWER IN GENERAL (continued]. 



Receptacle or Torus Floral whorls Acyclic, Cyclic and Hemi- 

 cyclic flowers Internodes Dilated and Hollow Receptacle 

 Flowers with free parts Hypogyny Perigyny Epigyny 

 Cohesion and Adhesion of parts Polysepalous and Gamo- 

 sepalous Calyx Polypetalous and Gamopetalous Corolla Other 

 terms Branching of Stamens, &c. Apocarpous and Syncarpous 

 Pistil Ovary. 



IT will be evident that in the further study of the 

 flower, it is important to observe the relations of the 

 various floral parts to the axis around the summit of 

 which they are inserted (Fig. 15, A): this axis in the 

 flower is termed the Receptacle, or Torus i.e. the bed 

 of the flower, on which the parts are inserted. 



In the simplest cases the receptacle is, as we have 

 seen, a more or less conical or dome-shaped projection of 

 the axis, around which the parts are spirally inserted, as 

 ordinary leaves often are ; but this simple arrangement is 

 very rarely completely carried out in any existing perfect 

 flower i.e. one having all the floral parts though it is 

 met with in a few Ranunculacese (Buttercups and their 

 allies) and some Magnolias, the type being almost perfectly 

 represented by such a flower as that of the Indian 

 Michelia fuscata, where we pass gradually by an ascending 

 spiral line from the insertion of the outermost sepal, 



