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THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



connective, bearing the pollen sacs on the inner face and con- 

 tinuing above them as a flap-like appendage. These appendages 

 roof over and conceal the pistil. 



The shape of the stamens is only to be understood in relation 

 to that of the pistil (Fig. 69). This consists of two carpels forming 



FIG. 68. Flower of the Greater Periwinkle cut in half. (After Baillon.) 



the green ovary ; from this springs a cylindrical style which 

 gradually widens till the level of the inwardly projecting filaments 

 is reached. Above this the style suddenly widens out into a 

 disc at the level of the concave portions of the filaments, which 

 arch round it. The expanded disc is surmounted by a narrower 

 portion. The summit bears a plume of white hairs, which slope 

 downwards on all sides between the tip of the style and the upper 



