FLOWEKING PLANTS OP THE GREEN LANES. 229 



kind of flower stalk bearing two sorts of flowers oi 

 the simplest form, both destitute of corolla and calyx. 

 At the base of this central stalk is a cluster of fertile 

 pistils (I, Fig. 173) surmounted by a frill of one or 

 two rows of rudimentary organs of the same kind (e) 



Fig. 174. 



Fertile Pistils, X 25. 

 Fig. 175. Fig. 176. 



Aborted Pistil. 



Perfect Stamen. 



Above the latter is a group of perfect sessile orstalkless 

 stamens (d), and still higher another ring of aborted 

 stamens. These parts form very interesting micro- 

 scopic objects, viewed with a low power. Thus, the 

 perfect female organs are represented in Fig. 174, 

 and the aborted or rudimentary ones in Fig. 175. 

 Up to a certain stage in the life-history of the plant 



