18 ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY. 



25. Remove the stamens, and you have left, as be- 

 fore, a head of carpels (Fig. 24). Examine one : there 



is the lower broad part, which you recognize 

 as the ovanj, the very short style, and the 

 sticky stigma. To all appearance the carpels 

 are pretty much the same as those of the two 

 plants already examined. It will not do, how- 

 ever, to trust altogether to appearances in this 

 Cut open a carpel and you find that, in- 

 stead of a single ovule at the bottom of the ovary, there 

 are several ovules in a row" along that edge of the 

 ovary which is turned towards the centre of the flower. 

 The ovary is, in fact, a pod, and, when the seeds 

 ripen, splits open along its inner edge. If you 

 can find one which has split in this way, you can 

 hardly fail to be struck with the resemblance 

 jPj^-^g which it bears to a common leaf. (Fig. 25.) 



On the whole the resemblance between the structure 

 of the Marsh-marigold and that of the Hepatica and 

 Buttercup is sufficiently great to justify us in placing 

 it in the same family with them. 



26. Having now made yourselves familiar with the 

 different parts of these three plants, you are to write 

 out a tabular description of them according to the fol- 

 lowing form ; and, in like manner, whenever you ex- 

 amine a new plant, do not consider your work done 

 until you have written out such a description of it. 



In the form the term cohesion relates to the union of 

 like parts ; for example, of sepals with sepals, or petals 

 with i^etals ; while the term adhesion relates to the 

 union of unlike parts ; for example, of stamens with 

 corolla, or ovary witli calyx. Neither cohesion nor ad- 

 hesion takes place in any of the three flowers we have 



