42 



ORGANOGRAPHY AND GLOSSOLOGY. 



appearing to spring from leaves or bracts. In the Lime (fig. 131), the peduncle is 

 joined to the bracts. In Xylophylla the floral branch, dilated and flattened like 

 a leaf, bears flowers along its edges. In the Butcher's Broom (fig. 172), as in 

 Xylophylla, the peduncles, enlarged into green leaves, rise in the axils of small scales 

 which are the true leaves, and bear on their centre one or more shortly pedicelled 

 flowers, forming a cyme. 



THE FLOWER. 



The flower, in phaenogamic plants, is a collection of several whorls (usually 

 four), formed of variously modified leaves arranged one above another in rings 

 or stages, so close that their internodes are not distinguishable. 



The leaves which form each floral whorl are not always precisely on the same 

 level, but often form a close spiral, and consequently not a true whorl ; the term 



whorl is, however, always applied to the calyx, 

 corolla, andrcecium, and pistil. 



The flower may be regarded as a true 

 shoot, terminating the peduncle or pedicel, 

 and therefore terminal as regards the branch 

 from which it springs : limiting the growth 

 of that branch. Its terminal position may 

 be theoretically explained by supposing that 

 the floral whorls exhaust the supply of nutri- 

 ment provided by the axis, and with this the 

 vegetative force necessary to prolong it. In 

 the normal condition of the flower, the re- 

 productive and nutritive forces are in equili- 

 brium ; but there are cases in which this 



.... . ,. , , , , . , . , ,, . '74. The name row cut 



equilibrium is disturbed, and in which the axis vertically, and depriv.-d 

 lengthens beyond the floral whorls, and re- petals, to show "the 



i xl 1 A U_ 1_ 1.1.1 VU P itlon of a11 the parts 



produces the plant by branch- buds ; in which iong the axi. 

 cases the seed-buds are usually suppressed : this is seen in 

 many plants, and especially in proliferous roses (fig. 17-J), 

 of which the peduncle is prolonged into a supplementary 

 axis, ending usually in an imperfect flower (fig. 174) of 

 sepals (s) and petals (P), in the middle of which are a few 

 imperfect stamens and carpels. 

 The variously transformed leaves composing the floral whorls, though 

 modified in tissue, colour, and texture, to form the calyx, corolla, androecium, 

 and pistil, sometimes reveal their origin by resuming the aspect of normal leaves. 

 The term anomaly or monstrosity is given to casual departures from the normal 

 structure occurring in animals and plants, which anomalies are most frequently 

 induced by cultivation. 



The first whorl or calyx, being the exterior, and therefore the nearest to the 

 leaves, resembles these most. 



The second whorl or corolla is more altered j the tissue of its petals is more 



178. Proliferous rose. 

 C,c, calyx transformed Into leaves ; 

 r, petals multiplied :it the expense 

 of the stnineiis ; A, prolonged axis 

 bearing an imperfect flower; F, 

 coloured blades representing abor- 

 tive carpels. 



