STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS. 79 



Capparidese, in their stamens arising from that portion 

 of the torus which does not adhere to the calyx. 



Except the small number of examples which I have 

 mentioned, it generally happens that when the torus ad- 

 heres to the calyx and the ovary, it tends to unite them 

 together throughout the whole extent, where they are 

 found contiguous; we say then that the ovary is adher- 

 ent to the calyx, or the calyx to the ovary, or simply 

 that these organs are adherent. This union of organs 

 so distant from each other only takes place by their 

 uniting with the intermediate organ. The torus, reduced 

 to an indistinct lamina throughout all the united part, 

 is developed above, at the point where the limb of the 

 calyx becomes free : sometimes it forms an adherent 

 lamina to this limb, which is then prolonged a little into 

 a tube, as is seen in several Rubiaceee, as Gardenia; 

 sometimes it is expanded into a kind of disc, which 

 partly covers the ovaries, and gives origin to the stamens, 

 which are then (hardly correctly) said to be Epigynous, 

 such are the Umbelliferas and RhamneaD ; most fre- 

 quently it is not perceptibly prolonged either along the 

 tube of the calyx, or upon the ovary, and then the 

 petals and stamens arise from the circular line which is 

 found at the point of separation of the ovary and calyx. 

 This position has caused the name of Inferior ovary to 

 be given generically to all those which are adherent, be- 

 cause they seem in fact below the petals ; or to the co- 

 rolla that of Superior, because it seems above the 

 ovary; but the numerous cases where the torus is 

 prolonged upon the calyx, without the latter adhering 

 to the ovary, and where, consequently, the corolla ought 

 to be called inferior, although it is evidently above the 

 ovary, have caused these expressions, founded upon ap- 

 pearances, to be abandoned, and that of Adherent 

 ovary or calyx to be employed, which expresses the fact 

 without any ambiguity. 



