" ` 
DICOTYLE DON MONOCOTYLEDON 
POLYCOTYLEDON 
CYCAD 
BOTANY. 97 
posing it are called sepals. Within the calyx is seen 
another whorl of yellow leaves, known as petals; their 
union forms the corolla. Springing from the middle of the 
calyx and corolla, and standing erect, is seen a delicate 
tube, the pistil. Surrounding the pistil, and differing from 
it in appearance, are found the stamens. If the pistil is 
examined separately (Fig. 132), it is seen to be composed 
of the following parts: the head or stigma, the stalk or 
style, and the ovary. The ovary contains the ovule, or 
future seed, and if the ovule be magnified it is seen to con- 
tain the embryo-sac, and within the embryo-sac is found 
the germinal vesicle. The germinal vesicle is the rudiment 
of the future plant. The stamens, or stalks, surrounding 
the pistil, are composed of the stems or filaments support- 
ing the anthers or little heads. The anthers contain the 
pollen, or fertilizing principle. Suppose the supreme power 
of Turkey to be a woman, and the Sultana to have a harem 
of men, such a condition of social life would represent 
what is seen in the Violet, or better in a section of the 
Morning-glory (Fig. 131), where the imaginary Sultana is 
realized in the pistil, the harem of men in the stamens. 
The pollen produced in the anthers finds its way to the 
stigma, or head of the pistil; from the head it passes down 
through the style, or tube of the pistil, until it reaches the 
ovary. Piercing successively the ovary, ovule, and embryo- 
sac, it finally comes in contact with the germinal vesicle. 
From this moment the life of the new plant begins in the 
formation of the embryo. The flowers of the Violet and 
Morning-glory serve to illustrate the reproductive apparatus 
of many plants. If, however, the flower of the Goose-foot 
(Chenopodium) (Fig. 133) be compared with that of the 
Violet, the absence of the corolla at once strikes the atten- 
tion; and if the flowers of the Bread-tree, Pine, etc. (Fig. 
135, a, 6) be now examined, calyx and corolla are both 
found wanting. Further, in trees like the Pine, etc. there 
7 
