220 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



blade of grass is an example. The 

 leaves of the Calla, also, are marked in 

 the same way. 



The flowers next invite our attention. 

 You see that they are ])roduced near 

 the end of the stem, but as each of 

 them arises from the axil of a bract the 

 inflorescence will be described as axil- 

 lary. Whilst you are looking at the 

 upper part of the stem you will doubt- 

 less notice the little black l)odies in the 

 axils of many of the leaves, and perhaps 

 will wonder what they are. If you 

 dissect one of them with a sharp knife 

 you will discover it to be a bud, a good 

 deal resembling the bulb in its struc- 

 ture ; it is, in fact, what is called a 

 bulblet, and if you look about the old 

 plants in the spring you will find that 

 the bulblets which have fallen to the 

 ground in the autumn have sprouted 

 and produced new plants. In the 

 flower of the lily the showy part con- 

 sists of six similar pieces, curved back- 

 ward, or recurved, as the botanist says. 

 These six pieces are in two sets of three 

 each, one set being outside the other, 

 but as they all so closely resemble each 

 other it will be better not to call one 

 set the calyx and the other the corolla, 

 but to describe the two sets collectively 

 as the peiianih. In that case, though 

 the parts are all separate, we can not 

 very well use either of the terms poly- 

 sepalous or polypetalous to describe 

 that fact, but shall adopt a new term, 

 polyphyllous ; and so also, if we find 

 the parts of a perianth joined together, 

 we shall use the term gamophyllous to 

 describe that fact. 



The parts of the perianth will be 

 found to be attached to the receptacle. 



The stamens are six in number, and 

 you will observe that the anthers are 

 attached by their centres, and swing 

 freely about, discharging great quan- 

 tities of dark brown pollen. Anthers 

 which swing about in this way are 

 said to be versatile. 



The pistil has its three parts, ovary, 

 style, and stiyma, well marked. The 

 upper part of the style and the stigma 

 are three cornered, and the ovary is 

 six-lobed. If the ovary be cut across 

 it will be found to be three-celled, with 

 two rows of seeds in each cell. 



Now it is desirable to notice the 

 prevalence of the number three in rela- 

 tion to the parts of this flower. The 

 perianth is in two sets of three each ; 

 so are the stamens, and the ovary 

 clearly consists of three carpels. The 

 flowers of our first group of plants had 

 not their parts in threes, but for the 

 most part in Jives. So that we have 

 nov/ discovered at least two important 

 differences between the lily and the 

 other plants examined : first, in the 

 veining of the leaves, and secondly, in 

 the number of parts in each floral 

 whorl. 



Now we may turn to the Calla, which 

 by the way is not properly a Calla, but 

 a Richardia, from South Africa. The 

 leaf-stalks and the scape which bears 

 the brilliant white lily-like growth at 

 its summit may be easily traced down- 

 wai-ds to their origin in a thick under- 

 ground stem, which differs fi'om the 

 lily-bulb in being a solid mass, inca- 

 pable of being separated into scales or 

 coats. This underground stem of the 

 Calla is a kind of tuber, not altogether 

 unlike a potato in its structure. The 

 leaves, you observe, are straight veined, 

 but, unlike the lily leaves, have both 

 blade and petiole. 



We are chiefly concerned, however, 

 with the flower. The white showy 

 part is in one piece, enfolding below a 

 cui-ious kind of stalk or column, and 

 expanding above. Let us carefully 

 remove this lily-like leaf, so as to com- 

 pletely expose the column it contains. 

 The lower part of this column is now 

 seen to be crowded with small greenish 

 bodies, whilst the upper part is sur- 

 rounded by innumerable yellow pro- 



