ARRANGEMENT OP THE PARTS OF FLOWERS. 



303 



FIG. 98. PLANS OP FLOWERS : a, Cherry; b, Squill 



same principle of arrangement. For example, the adjoining 

 figure shows a plan (a) 

 of the flower of a 

 Cherry; in the outer 

 circle are marked the 

 places of the five sepals, 

 and in the next those 

 of the five petals which 

 alternate with them. 

 Within these, however, 

 we find no less than twenty stamens ; but these may be regarded 

 as composing four whorls with five in each, apparently blended 

 together, however, by the closeness of their origin. The other 

 diagram (&) is the plan of the flower of a Squill; in which, as in 

 other Endogens, the parts are disposed in threes not in fives. The 

 outer circle has three dots indicating the places of the three 

 sepals ; and on the inner one the petals are indicated in like 

 manner, and are seen to alternate with the former ; the stamens 

 are six in number, and distinctly form two rows, of which the 

 outer one is opposite to' the whorl of the calyx, and the inner 

 one to that of the corolla ; and with this, again, the carpels 

 would alternate. 



465. An apparent irregularity, however, is more frequently 



produced by the absence 

 of some of the parts, 

 Thus, in the Primrose, 

 there are five sepals, five 

 petals, and five stamens ; 

 but the stamens are op- 

 posite to the petals, in- 

 stead of alternating with 

 them (Fig. 99 ; a). Now 

 the explanation which the Botanist would offer of this irregu- 

 larity, is, that there must be a row of stamens intermediate 

 between the petals and the stamens, which, from some cause, 

 have not been developed. And this is found to be really the 

 case ; for in the Samolus, a plant otherwise formed upon the 



FIG. 99 PLANS OF FLOWSRS: a, Primrose; 



b, Samolus. 



