234 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



only of male flowers ; those from the upper axils are androgynous, 

 with female flowers in the axil of their inferior bracts,^ and higher 



Castanea vulgaris. 



Fipr. 190. Male 

 flower (A). 



Fig. 196. Median 

 achene, front 



Fig. 189. Floriferous branch. 



Fig. 197. Lateral 

 achene. 



Fig. 198. Long. sect, 

 of achene. 



than the males, often arrested in their development. The flowers of 

 the two sexes are united in glomerules, sometimes reduced to one 

 flower. In the male flower, very analogous to that of the Oaks^ the 

 sepals, generally six in number, imbricate in two series, surround a 

 diplostemonous or triplostemonous androecium. The stamens have a 



These bracts are ordinarily larger and thicker than those of the male flowers. 



