PLAN OF THE FLOWER. 63 
are built upon one only plan, and that plan founded in the 
science of numbers. 
Fig. 192. Flower of Hippuris,—one-parted. 
Fig. 193. Circea Lutetiana; flower two-parted. 
Fig. 194, Yellow-eyed Grass (Xyris); flower three-parted. 
113. Let us, then, examine the Flax. Here all the organs 
are in fives. The Circe has them all in twos; the Iris, in 
threes. And every plant is distinguished in this way by 
some number which we call the radical number, according 
to which its organs are parted. Now in the Mock Orange, 
or Philadelphus, although the stamens seer to be indefinite, 
still the radical number is four. The stamens occur in many 
circles, with four in each circle, so that these are also in fours. 
As for the pistils, they are evidently four, but so united as 
to form apparently but one. Examine also the Bloodroot. 
Its stamens will be found in fours, the radical number, and 
the stamens of the Apple will be found in fives. So the 
petals of Bloodroot are twice four (8), and of the Magnolia 
twice three (6), or three times three (9). 
114. It is therefore a general law, that when any organ is 
113. Can you define the radical number of the flower? What is it in 
Circe? Iris? Flax? How is it in Philadelphus? How in Bloodroot? 
114. State the law of multiplied organs, 
