OUTLINES OP BOTANY. XXX1U 



base of the ovnle, the axis of the ovule is curved, bringing the foramen 

 down more or less towards that base. 



anatropous or inverted, when the chalaza is at the apex of the ovule, 

 and the foramen next to its base, the axis remaining straight. In this, one 

 of the most frequent forms of the ovule, the chalaza is connected with the 

 base by a cord, called the raphe, adhering to one side of the ovule, and 

 becoming more or less incorporated with its coats, as the ovuls enlarges 

 into a seed. 



amphitropous or half -inverted, when the ovule being as it were at- 

 tached laterally, the chalaza and foramen at opposite ends of its straight or 

 curved axis are about equally distant from the base or point of attachment. 



12. The Receptacle and Relative Attachment of the Floral Whorls. 



135. The Receptacle or torus is the extremity of the peduncle (above 

 the calyx), upon which the corolla, stamens, and ovary are inserted. It is 

 sometimes little more than a mere point or minute hemisphere, but it is 

 often also more or less elongated, thickened, or otherwise enlarged. It 

 must not be confounded with the receptacle of inflorescence (74). 



13^ A Disk, or disc, is a circular enlargement of the receptacle, usually 

 in the *orm of a cup (cupular), of a flat disk or quoit, or of a cushion (pul- 

 vinate). It is either immediately at the base of the ovary within the 

 stamens, or between the petals and stamens, or bears the petals or sta- 

 mens or both on its margin, or is quite at the extremity of the recep- 

 tacle, with the ovaries arranged in a ring round it or under it. 



137. The disk may be entire, or toothed or lobed, or divided into a 

 number of parts, usually equal to or twice that of the stamens or carpels. 

 When the parts of the disk are quite separate and short, they are often 

 called^ Ian ds. 



138. Nectaries, are either the disk, or small deformed petals, or abor- 

 tive stamens, or appendages at the base of petals or stamens, or any small 

 bodies within the flower which do not look like petals, stamens, or ova- 

 ries. They were formerly supposed to supply bees with their honey, and 

 the term is frequently to be met with in the older Floras, but is now de- 

 servedly going out of use. 



139. When the disk bears the petals and stamens, it is frequently adhe- 

 rent to, and apparently forms part of, the tube of the calyx, or it is adherent 

 to, and apparently forms part of, the ovary, or of both calyx -tube and 

 ovary. Hence the three following important distinctions in the relative in- 

 sertion of the floral whorls. 



140. Petals or, as it is frequently expressed, flowers, are 

 hypogynous (i.e. under the ovary), when they or the disk that bears 



them are entirely free both from the calyx and ovary. The ovary is then 

 described as free or superior, the calyx as free or inferior, the petals as being 

 inserted on the receptacle. 



perigynous (i.e. round the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is 

 quite free from the ovary, but is more or less combined with the base of the 

 calyx -tube. The ovary is then still described as free or superior, even 

 though the combined disk and calyx-tube may form a deep cup with the 

 ovary lying in the bottom ; the calyx is said to be free or inferior, and the 

 petals are described as inserted on the calyx. 



epigynous (i. e. upon the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is 

 combined both with the base of the calyx-tube and the base outside of the 



