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A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY [On. VI, 10 



development of the flower favors a different interpretation 

 viz. that the receptacle grows up in cup-shaped form, carry- 

 ing upon its top the four whorls, of which the carpels come 

 simply to close in the roof of the ovary, as represented in 

 the lower diagrams (Fig. 228 ) . In case of the Apple, the up- 

 growing receptacle appears to have inclosed the set of carpels, 

 represented by the core. Yet these distinctions of floral 



parts have in reality no great weight, 

 since as the flower becomes special- 

 ized the former sharp distinction 

 between stem and leaves, and even 

 that between receptacle and floral 

 tube, tends to disappear. This 

 consolidation of the parts of the 

 flower goes still farther in cases 

 like Fuchsia, where the floral tube 

 stands upon the ovary, and upon 

 the tube stand sepals, petals, and 

 stamens (Fig. 229) ; and it reaches 

 perhaps its perfection in the Orchids 

 where even the stamens and pistil 

 form one mass. 



Typically the sepals, petals, sta- 

 mens, and carpels follow the method 

 of leaves in their development, and, 

 like leaves, branch readily in their 

 own plane, but rarely out of it. Yet 

 the floral parts do at times produce 

 special outgrowths from their faces, 

 as in case of some nectaries, the scales in the throats of 

 some Pinks, and the remarkable " crown of thorns" in 

 the Passion flower. Somewhat similar in origin is the corona 

 of the Narcissus, a structure which in the Daffodil (Fig. 230) 

 surpasses in size and prominence even the regular floral 

 tube itself. 



In such features as these outgrowths, and in many of the 



FIG. 231. Cymes, com- 

 pound, of the Wild Geranium. 

 (From Bailey.) 



