CHAPTER XIII. 



THE INFLORESCENCE, AND THE FLOWER.i 



In Flowering Plants Sexual Reproduction is carried out in the Flower. 

 It results in the production of Seed. Contained in each ripe seed is 

 the Germ of a new individual. The Flower which serves this uniform 

 purpose of producing new germs may take an infinite variety of 

 different forms in different plants. But however various the ap- 

 pearance of the Flower may be in outline, or in the number or com- 

 plexity of its parts, comparison shows that the organs which are 

 directly connected with the sexual process, and the details of that 

 process, are in all cases essentially the same. This suggests that the 

 differences are accessory, and that the propagative process itself is the 

 real end. 



The Flower. 



The Flower is found to consist of parts which fall into certain definite 

 groups, or kinds of organs. But they may vary greatly in number, 

 while all the kinds of organs need not be represented in the same flower. 

 Some like the Water-Lily, or the Rose or Quince, consist of numerous 

 parts representing all the kinds of organs (Fig. i68). In other cases the 

 flower in the strict sense may comprise only a few parts, or in extreme 

 cases only a single one of them, as in the Spurge (Fig. 169). There is 

 in all cases a prolongation of the stalk to bear the floral parts ; but it 

 terminates abruptly, and is usually more or less widened out laterally, 

 so that the appendages can be closely crowded upon it. This is 

 called the floral receptacle, and since its apical growth stops, the result 

 is that the flower is always distal, that is, it is borne at the end of its 

 stalk. The parts which the receptacle bears may be grouped as : 



^ This chapter will be best understood after a number of the types of Floral 

 Construction described in Appendi.x A have been dissected and examined. 



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