MORPHOLOGY OF EEPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 101 



1. THE BRACT. 



In strict langiiage the term hract should be applied only to 

 tlie leaf from the axil of whicli a solitary flower or a. floral axis 

 arises ; while all other leafy structures which are found upon that 

 axis between the bract and the flower properly so called, should 

 be termed bractlets or bracteoles. These two kinds of bracts are, 

 however, but rarely distinguished in practice, the term bract 

 being generally alone used for either variety, and in this sense 

 we shall hereafter, as a general rule, apply it. 



Bracts vary much in appearance, some of them being large, 

 of a green colour, and in other respects resembling the ordinary 

 foliage leaves of the plant upon which 

 they are placed, as in the "White Dead- 

 FiG. 192. nettle {fig. 191) ; and in the Pimpernel 



(fig- 192, a, a) ; in which case they are 

 called leafy bracts. Such bracts can 

 only be distinguished from the foliage 

 leaves by their position with regard to 

 the flower-stalk or flower. In most cases, 

 however, bracts, although very com- 

 monly of a greenish coloiir, are smaller 



Fig. 193. 



Fie. 194. 



Fig. 192. Flowering stalk of the Pimpernel (AHafirrtZZis 

 arvensis). b, b. Solitary flowers arising from the 



axil of the leafy bracts, a, a. Fig. 193. Calyx of 



the Marsh-mallow {Althiea offidnaUs), surrounded 



by an epicalyx or involucre. Fig. 194. Flower 



of the Strawben-y (Frctgaria vesca), surrounded by 

 an epicalyx or involucre. 



than the foliage leaves ; and in many plants they may be known 

 from the ordinary leaves not only by their position, but also by 

 differences of colour, outUne, texture, and other peculiarities. 

 Thus the bracts forming the cupule of the Oak {fig. 198) are hard 



