THE .MALLOW TRIBE. 89 



each of which has a short filament {fig. 1.), and is of 

 a kidney shape, containing only one cell instead of 

 two, as is usual. Formerly Botanists were contented 

 to call this column, a column, and to inquire no fur- 

 ther ; as if they thought it was some new and special 

 organ found only in such plants as the Mallow. At 

 the present day we are too curious to be thus easily 

 contented, and we must have the exact nature of every 

 part explained. This column, then, is caused by the 

 filaments growing fast together, when they are very 

 young, without being able to separate afterwards, 

 except just at the top, where they look like filaments. 

 Suppose the stamens of the Tutsan were joined toge- 

 ther in this way, when young, you would have exactly 

 such a column as is constantly produced in the 

 Mallow. 



The next object of examination is the pistil {fig. 

 2.) ; it is formed of several carpels, which grow toge- 

 ther in a circle round a common centre, and so form 

 a sort of flat plate, from the middle of which the 

 styles arise. Like the filaments, the styles also grow 

 together at the bottom into a column, but thev soon 

 separate again, and then you may tell, by counting 

 them, that each carpel has its own style, for there is 

 exactly as many styles as carpels. 



Last comes our acquaintance the cheese, in the 

 shape of the nearly ripe fruit ; we will suppose it to 

 be quite ripe {jig. 4.), for the sake of avoiding repeti- 

 tion. It consists of a number of dry carpels which 

 will separate readily from each other and from the 

 central body to which they were originally joined. 



