60 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



dissimilar' sepals, quincuncially imbricated in the bud. The petals, 

 equally free and imbricated in the bud, have a short claw, and are 



Pceonia alhlflora. Pceonia Moutan (papaveracea). 



Fig. 110. Fig. 111. Fig. 112. 



Longitudinal section of bud. Disk and gynaeceum. Longitudinal section. 



often equal in number'' to the sepals, and alternate with them.' 

 The stamens are very numerous, inserted along a spiral of many 

 tui'ns very close to one another. The anthers,^ two-celled and in- 

 trorse, are narrow and elongated, each dehiscing by two longitudinal 

 clefts.^ The somewhat unequal filaments, attached to the bases of 

 the anthers, are free, slender,*^ and inserted without the projecting 

 rim formed by a glandular disk which lines the concavity of the recep- 

 tacle, and projects more or less from it. Here it is only a small, un- 

 equally crenulate ledge, while in other species, such as T. papaveracea 

 An DR." (figs. Ill, 112), this disk rises up into a coloured sac, 

 which looks as if formed by a union of appendicular organs, and en- 

 tirely surrounds the ovaries, only giving passage to the styles by the 

 narrow aperture at its summit."* The gynseceum consists of a variable 



' Tiie more internal they are the more they 

 rescmhle petals in form and consistency; the 

 more external they are the more they resemble 

 bracts. 



- Except in cases of deduplication. 



' With five petals the iKstivation is sometimes 

 quincuncial ; hut more often there is only one of 

 the petals quite inside, and only one entirely 

 overlapping. They are very caducous. 



* A transverse section of the anther shows that 

 it is divided by four longitudinal grooves into as 

 many nearly equal lobes, two to each cell. The 

 anther has really but two cells. It is very de- 



cidedly introrse in P. anetina, Tfittmanniana, 

 and much less so in P. officinalis, mollis, &c. 



* Moreover, after dehiscence the anthers be- 

 come twisted on themselves or revolute from 

 above downwards. 



^ The filaments are shorter as they are more 

 external. The weight of the anthers makes 

 them droop after the expansion of the flower. 



' This is rather a mere variety of P. 3Ioufan, 

 Sims, with white petals spotted with pm-ple, and a 

 nnich developed disk(ANDE.,ex DC.,Prodr.,'i.65). 



^ Whatever be its size, this organ is like a 

 disk, late to develope. When it nearly surrounds 



