335 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



and androceum ; while towards the bottom, answering to the orp^anic 

 apex, are grouped the elements of the gyna?ceum. The calyx usually 

 consists of five' more or less dissimilar leaves, quincuncially imbri- 



Bwa pimpinelli/olia. 



Fig. 374. 

 Lonpitudinal section of flowrr. 



Pig. 376. 

 Cnrpel Inid open. 



cated in the bud.- The petals have short claws, and are as numerous 

 as the sepals, alternating with them and similarly imbricated in the 



monstrous roues, dcscrilxd and figured during 

 the lust two centuries, where the recept^icle re- 

 verts more or less to the form of im ordiiniry 

 hniiicli, prolonged beyond the normal llorul aj)- 

 Iiendii;.'('s to end in iinothcr (lower, or j)r<)ducing 

 lateral proliferous hranciies at dill'erent heights. 

 The reader w ill understiind that the natiire ot" 

 this work docs not i)ermit us to go fully into 

 these matters of teratology, whieh are very in- 

 teresting, and have served, since the time of 

 (ioKTiiK, to explain tlie morphologieid value of 

 the axial or a|)|Kiidieular a]))K-ndageii entering 

 into the formation of a flower. 



' 'I'he number 5 is nnrnial in Uhadophora 



(Neck., Elem.. n. 7l«;— Kndi,., loc. ril., b). 

 We rarely find 4, and still more rarely G ; the 

 former nund)er eharaeteri/cs the subgenus Rlio- 

 (loj).\is (Kmm.., loc. ci/., a). 



■•' It is ascertained that the ovcrlapjnd edges 

 are simpler, more entire, and more nuinbranous, 

 and usually less green than those uhiih overhip ; 

 these are usually Iringed, inciseil, ]iinnatitid, or 

 pinnatisect ; and the more they are develops*! and 

 lobeil, the more they resemble the etudine leaves. 

 In short, a si«pal here npremnts a leaf especially 

 developwl in the lower |M)rtion (sw I'aykk, EUm. 

 tU Hut., 151, fig. 2(U-2r>y). 



