MORE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS* 119 



employed as effective advertisements. A good 

 case of this sort is shown in the flov^ering-rush, 

 a close relation of the arrowhead and the water- 

 plantain, hut a more advanced and deve- 

 loped plant than either of them. Here the 

 calyx and corolla, instead of forming two sepa- 

 rate rows, are telescoped into one, as it were, 

 and are both rose-coloured. In such cases we 

 speak of the combined calyx and corolla as the 

 perianth (another long word, with which I'm 

 sorry to trouble you). In such perianths, uow- 

 ever, even when all the pieces are of the same 

 size and are similarly coloured, you can see if 

 you look close that three of them are outside 

 and alternate with the others ; and these three 

 are really the calyx in disguise, got up as a 

 corolla. (An excellent example of this arrange- 

 ment is afforded by the common garden tulip.) 

 Inside its six rose-coloured perianth-pieces, the 

 flowering-rush has nine stamens, arranged in 

 three rows of three stamens each. Finally, in 

 the centre, it has six carpels, equally arranged 

 in tw^o rows of three. Here the threefold 

 architectural ground-plan of the flower is very 

 apparent. You may say, in short, that the 

 original scheme of the two great groups is some- 

 thing like this : five sepals, five petals, five 

 stamens, five carpels ; or else, three sepals, 

 three petals, three stamens, three carpels. But 

 in any instance there may be two or more such 

 rows of any organ, especially of the stamens ; 

 in any instance certain parts may be reduced 

 in number or entirely suppressed ; and in any 

 instance calyx and corolla may be coloured 



