304 



ARRANGEMENT OP THE PARTS OP FLOWERS. 



FIG. 100. a, plan of flower of Sage; 6, deve- 

 lopment of stamens in allied genus. 



same plan as the primrose, five little scales, which are partly- 

 developed stamens, appear in the situation of the absent row. 



In the Sage, again, we 

 find a calyx of five sepals, 

 and a corolla of five petals; 

 but only two stamens are 

 seen within (Fig. 100, ). 

 Now, upon looking atten- 

 tively at the inside of the 

 tube of the corolla, two 

 little scales are often to be 

 seen growing in the place, where two of the deficient stamens 

 should have been, that is alternating with the petals ; these 

 two scales are frequently developed as perfect stamens, in flowers 

 which are otherwise constructed exactly like the Sage (b) ; and 

 even the fifth makes its appearance in some instances, exactly 

 where it should regularly be found. Such deficiencies are often 

 to be noticed ; thus in the genus Bauhinia, which has, properly, 

 ten stamens arranged in 

 two whorls, there are 

 some species in which only 

 three perfect stamens are 

 developed(0),orevenbuta 

 single one (6). Deficiency 

 in the number of carpels 

 in the pistil, is even more 

 common ; and it is in fact rare to find a flower, which presents 

 a structure that may be considered perfectly regular, as well in 

 its form as in the number of its parts. "Without forming some 

 such standard, however, it would be impossible to obtain a defi- 

 nite idea of the nature of the deviations, of which some of the 

 principal kinds will have to be presently considered. 



466. One of the commonest of these deviations is that, in 

 which the calyx appears to arise, not, as is usual, below the 

 ovarium, but above it. In this case it will be found, that the 

 real position of the parts is the same ; but that the perianth wraps 

 round or encloses the ovarium, and spreads itself out only when 



FIG. 10] PLANS OK FLOXVEUS OF BAUHIMA. 



