PYEOLA. 151 



found in the flowers and fruit ; 2d, to those which apply to 

 one species only and serve to distinguish it from all the other 

 members of the genus. They are taken from any part, but 

 chiefly from the leaf region. 



1. GENERIC CHARACTEKS. The Pyrolas are smooth, 

 nearly acaulescent, perennial herbs. Both roots and stem are 

 mostly subterranean. The former are brown fibers spring- 

 ing here and there from the joints of the stem. An under- 

 ground shoot or runner arising from the base of the last 

 year's plant, becomes the stem of this year's plant, and 

 so on. 



The Z/eaves are entire, petiolate, and nearly radical. 



The Inflorescence is a scape with a few bracts, and a 

 simple raceme. 



The Flowers are complete, 5-parted, symmetrical, one- 

 colored, nodding. The sepals are 5, united at the base, per- 

 sistent. The petals are 5, larger, concave, converging (not 

 wide-spread), scarcely united at the base, deciduous. The 10 

 stamens are peculiar in form and behavior. The large ob- 

 long anthers (4, 5) are attached to the top of the filament 

 near their own apex, where they open by 2 (or 4) pores. In 

 the bud (2) they are seen inverted, but become erect with 

 their pores upward as the flower expands. A vertical sec- 

 tion (3) displays the structure and arrangement of the floral 

 organs. 



The Style is one, compounded of 5 united, with 5 stigmas 

 at the top. The superior ovary becomes in fruit a globous- 

 depressed, 5-lobed, 5-celled capsule, opening upward from 

 the bottom by 5 valves. The seeds are innumerable and very 

 minute. 



2. SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. We have the portrait of a 

 common species, and assume that the learner has specimens 

 before him. The few leaves are quite radical, thick and 



