I3 2 BOTANY. 



over the second ? the third ? the fourth ? the fifth ? Give 

 the series of numbers that belong to the leaves of each 

 row. 



The name applied by botanists to these modes of leaf- 

 arrangement \spkyllotaxU, 



EXERCISE LX. 



Arrangement of Floral Leaves in the Bud. ^Estivation, or 

 Prefloration. 



In most common flowers, the floral circles, calyx, co- 

 rolla, etc., appear quite distinct ; but have you never ob- 

 served cases in which it was doubtful where the calyx 

 ended and the corolla began ? or, where the corolla ended 

 and the calyx began ? or, even, where the bracts ended 

 and the calyx began ? Have you never seen sepals with 

 the color and delicacy of petals, and in the same flower 

 some sepals that were green, and some more or less like 

 petals? or, the same sepal green without an'd petal-like 

 within? Have you not seen the involucre made up of 

 colored bracts, which looked like a corolla ? Have you 

 not sometimes met with flowers in which you could see the 

 gradual transition from petals to stamens? or in which 

 some of the stamens or carpels were changed to green 

 foliage-leaves ? Have you ever known of single flowers 

 becoming double by cultivation, and of stamens and car- 

 pels replaced by petals ? Did you ever see a leafy shoot 

 growing out from the center of a flower, or of a flower- 

 bud? These appearances are not uncommon, and may 

 be easily observed if you are watchful. 



It is from these singular aspects of plants, joined with 

 the study of their development, that botanists have come 

 to regard flowers as altered branches, and floral leaves as 

 changed foliage-leaves. They speak of carpels as carpel- 

 lary leaves, stamens as staminal leaves, petals as corolla- 

 leaves, and the sepals as calyx-leaves. 



