78 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



anatropous ovule,' whose micropyle usually looks upwards and in- 

 wards.- The fruit is multiple, formed of a variable number of carpels 



lodged in the cavities of the 



now woody receptacle. Each 



carpel has a dry indehiscent or 



imperfectly dehiscent pericarp, 



containing one suspended seed. 



Within the spongy seed-coat is 



a large exalbuminous embryo. 



Its two cotyledons form by 



their approximation a fleshy 



mass, in the centre of which 



is a highly developed gemmule, 



with alternate green leaves, inflexed above 3 (tig. 78). Nelumbo 



consists of aquatic perennial herbs. The stem forms a thick 



rhizome, creeping in the mud, and bearing alternate polymorphous 



Nelumbo lutea. 



Fig. 77. 

 Achene. 



Fig. 78. 

 Embryo (f ). 



Fig. 80. 

 Achene (f). 



Fig. 79. 

 Multiple fruit (f). 



Fig. 81. 

 Long. sect, of achene. 



leaves ; one kind are short and scale-like, hidden close to the stock 

 under water ; the others emerge, and are peltate, with long petioles. 4 



1 With two coats. 



2 B. Clakke has put an interpretation of his 

 own on the floral organization of Nelumbo ; he 

 considers that the carpels are female flowers, with 

 the back of the ovary turned towards the centre 

 of the flower (in Journ. Bot. (1865), 127 ; A New 

 Arrang., 27). 



3 In each leaf may be distinguished the petiole 

 and blade, and even sometimes its axillary bud. 

 Hence this embryo represents a complete plant 

 on a small scale. 



4 Te£cul has made special researches (in Bull. 

 Soc. Bot. de Fr„ i. 18, 60 ; in Ann. Sc. Nat., 



ser. 4, i. 291) on the abnormal arrangement of 

 the leaves and stipules of N. codophyllum (the 

 same as Nelumbo lutea, — Nelutnbium luteum 

 W.). He thinks it a mistake to consider the 

 hyaline membrane that surrounds the gemmule 

 in the seed (fig. 81) a stipule. As regards the 

 leaves he admits that they have three stipules, 

 one axillary, and two others which he terms 

 extrafoliar. Moreover, all the leaves are uni- 

 lateral. He shows that the two extrafoliate 

 stipules are the axillary stipules of two aborted 

 leaves. 



