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MANUAL OF BOTANY 



-sected; acute, emarginate, &c. One term is occasionally used 

 in describing the conditions of the margins which has not been 

 alluded to when speaking of the leaves ; the petals are said 

 to be fimhriated or fringed, as in some species of Diamihus 

 (figs. 300 and 301, I), when they present long thread-like pro- 

 cesses at their margins. 



In texture the petals are commonly soft and delicate, but they 

 sometimes differ widely from this, and become thick and fleshy, 

 as in the Stapelias ; or dry and membranous, as in the Heaths ; 

 or stiff and hard, as in Xylopia. 



Fig. 300. 



Fig. 301. 



Fiil. 300. The flower of a species of Pink (Diantkus). b. Bracts, formiDg an 

 epicalyx or involucre, c. Calyx, p, p. Petals, the limbs of which are 



fringed at their margins, e. Stamens. Fig. 301. One of the petals of 



the same flower, o. Claw or unguis. L Limb, which is fringed at the 

 margins. 



The petals also, like the sepals, may be either distinct or 

 more or less united into one body. In the former case, the 

 coroUa is said to he polypetalous or dialypetalous {figs. 300-303) ; 

 in the latter, gamopetalous (figs. 304-321). 



1. PoLYPETALous OR DiALYPETALODS CoEOLLA. — The number 

 of petals which enter into the composition of the corolla is indi- 

 cated, as in the case of the polysepalous calyx, by a prefix of 

 the Greek numerals. Thus a corolla of two petals is said to be 

 dipetalous ; of three, tripetalous ; and so on. 



When the petals are all of the same size, and of similar 

 form, and are arranged in a symmetrical manner, the corolla is 

 termed regular, as in Eosaceoua flowers {figs. 267 and 302) ; 

 but when the petals vary in these particulars, as in the Pea and 

 allied plants {figs. 260 and 303), it is said to be irregular. 



