PHANEROGAMIA: FLOWERS. 319 



ample, Charn&dorea, where the points of the petals unite with the 

 apex of the axis of the flower which passes up through them.* 



In very crowded inflorescences, the torus of an axillary bud deve- 

 lopes obliquely, and rises up on one side, especially beneath the ger- 

 men, so as to appear as a part of its side-wall ; this happens with 

 most of the Grasses. A similar circumstance, arising from a similar 

 cause, happens when many single germens are present in one 

 flower, by the division of the torus, which forms the basis of each 

 of those germens, and thus assumes the appearance of forming a 

 part of the wall of the germen (as in Potamogeton and Dryadece). 



But the development of the internodes into a disc, or in a hollow 

 cup, is far more frequent in the flower. If the collective inter- 

 nodes of the flower form a hollow body, or even a cylindrical 

 elongated tube, which encloses only seed-buds, and bears all the 

 floral parts upon its upper edge, all this is the so-called inferior 

 germen, or ovary (germen inferum). 



Every other similar expansion of the internodes of the flowers 

 which does not immediately bear seed-buds, is called the disc 

 (discus). This may be situated beneath the rudiment of the fruit 

 (discus hypogynus), and then may be flat, as in Potentilla and 

 Fragaria ; or cup-shaped, as in Rosa, Populus (mas), &c. This 

 latter may be free (Rosa), or may be blended with the germen 

 situated inside it (Pyrus), or it may pass off from the middle of 

 the (half-inferior) germen (discus perigynus), as in many Myrtacece ; 

 or, lastly, it may rise above the (inferior) germen, and stand upon it 

 (discus epigynus). Here it is very rarely (or never ?) flat, but funnel- 

 shaped, as in Godetia ; in the form of a long tube, as in (Enothera ; 

 or resembling a style, as in the Orchidacece and Aristolochiacece. In 

 these cases, the foliar organs of the flower may be situated in very 

 different places. Usually, indeed, they collectively form a zone 

 around the edge of the flat or concave discs ; then the discs may 

 be said to correspond to as many discs, lying one above the other, 

 as there are internodes implied by the number of foliar organs. 

 Frequently the true foliar organs stand around the edge of the 

 disc; and upon its inner or upper surface the germens are ar- 

 ranged in one or more circles (as in Rosa, Punica, Onagracece). 

 More rarely the floral envelopes alone stand on the border, while 

 the stamens are then at a distance from them, upon an internal 

 prolongation of the disc, as in the Orchidacece. 



The disc is by no means always regularly developed, but some- 

 times enlarged at one side only, whereby the whole flower appears 

 oblique, thus in Reseda. The most remarkable structure is in 

 Pelargonium, where the disc forms a cavity to one side of the 

 peduncle, and in Tropaolum, where the spur is formed solely by 

 the disc. 



* Here, and in some similar cases, this portion of the axis is falsely called an abortive 

 germen. The germen in these cases is usually composed of carpels, and these never 

 exist in an abortive condition. The spermophore differs from the axis solely through 

 the presence of the seed-buds, and therefore neither does it exist here. 



