ROSACEA. 



aos 



tlie Strawberries. This central portion of the receptacle is generally 

 conical and very prominent in the flower. The broad part on 

 whose edges are inserted the perianth and androceum is like a 

 shallow porringer, and is lined by a layer of glandular tissue. The 

 carpels' and stamens" are indefinite in number ; the sepals and petals 



Rulus fniticosus {Blackberry). 



Fig. 429. 

 Lorigitudinal section of flower. 



Pig. 428. 

 Floi-iferous branch. 



imbricated in the bud, the former quincuncially,' Five hundred 



species have been described in this 



but most of these are 



' They are usually very nunieious in the spe- 

 cic?< of Ruhus proper. In the flower each con- 

 sists of a one-celled ovary surmounted by a style 

 which is terminal or inserted near the summit 

 of the ventral angle of the ovary, stigmatiferous, 

 and often more or less dihitid at the tip. Owing 

 to the insertion of the style the ovules, which 

 are inserted at the same part, are exactly de- 

 scending and completely anatropous, with the 

 micropyle turned upwards and outwards. They 

 have only a single coat, as in the Koses, whose 

 floral organization is, except as regards the 

 receptacle, altogether that of the Brambles. The 

 two ovules arc at first ecpial and collateral ; but 

 we rarely see both reach their full developujcnt ; 



usually one of them is early reduced to a cellular 

 mass, which may simulate an obturator and cnp 

 the exostome of the fertile ovule. 



- The position of the stamens is, according to 

 Patee, the same as in the Eoses. At a certain 

 stage we see the androceum represented by only 

 ten stamens placed in pairs, one stamen on either 

 side of each petal {luc. cit., fig. 3). Afterwards 

 the other stamens arise in the intervals between 

 these in verticils from without inwards. 'J'lie first 

 stamens appear on a sort of circular pad lining 

 the edge of the inside of the receptacular cup. 



^ They early cease to overlap, and aj)pear val- 

 vate in certain species. The flowers may be ex- 

 ceptionally tetra- or hexamcrous. 



