HOW FLOWERS CLUB TOGETHER. 



141 



combined corolla of five lobes, little or no visible 

 calyx, five stamens united in a ring round the 

 style, and a pistil consisting of an inferior ovary, 

 with a style divided above into a twofold stigma 

 (Fig. 34). Here we have clear evidence that the 

 plant belongs by origin to the five-petalled group ; 

 it rather resembles the harebell, in the plan of its 

 flower, on a much smaller scale ; but it has almost 

 lost all trace of a separate calyx, it has its five 

 petals united into a tubular corolla, it has still its 

 original five stamens, but its carpels are now re- 

 duced to one, with a single 

 seed, though traces of an 

 earlier intermediate stage, 

 when the carpels were two, 

 remains even yet in the di- 

 vided stigma. 



So much for the inner 

 flowers or florets in the daisy. 

 The outer ones, which you 

 took at first no doubt for 

 petals, are very different in- 

 deed from these central blos- 

 soms. They have an ex- 

 tremely curious long, strap- 

 shaped corolla (Fig.35),open 

 down the side, but tubular 

 at its base, as if it had been 

 split through the greater part 

 of its length by a sharp pen- 

 knife. Instead of being yel- 

 low, too, these outer florets are white, slightly 

 tinged with pink, and they form the largest and 

 most attractive part of the whole flower-head. 

 Furthermore, they are female only ; they have a 

 style and ovary, but no stamens. Clearly, we have 



FIG. 35. Single floret from 

 the ray of a daisy, pink 

 and white, with an 

 ovary, but no stamens. 



