THE FLOWER 77 



foliage leaves is not difficult to infer from their form, 

 and often from their colour, although the same thing 

 cannot be said of their upper leaves. We shall, how- 

 ever, soon see that the upper leaves, however much 

 they may seem to differ from foliage leaves, are also 

 really such. 



A COMPLETE flower usually consists of a short axis, 

 known as the thalamus, on which are inserted four 

 whorls of leaves in succession: the outer or lowermost 

 whorl is known as the calyx and each segment of 

 it a sepal; the next whorl is known as the corolla 

 and each segment of it a petal; the next whorl is 

 known as the androecium and each segment of it a 

 stamen; and the last whorl is known as the gyncecium 

 or PISTIL and each segment of it a carpel. Of the 

 flowers above, the last three have each a calyx of 

 three green sepals, a corolla of six yellow or white 

 petals arranged in two whorls of three each, an an- 

 droecium of numerous stamens, and a gyncecium of 

 numerous carpels; and the first agrees closely with 

 them in its androecium and gyncecium, but differs in 

 having at its base several whorls of leaves of the 

 same colour and form, which therefore cannot be 

 distinguished as calyx and corolla, but are collec- 

 tively called by the name of perianth. The follow- 

 ing easily available flowers may be examined in the 

 absence of those mentioned above, namely, shial- 

 kanta, amrul-shag, dhutura, afing or posto or 

 Poppy, nebu or Orange. 



In flowers the internodes are, as a rule, suppressed, 

 but in white-flowered hurh-hurhe {Gynandropsis pen- 

 taphylla) we find a stalk (androphore) between the 

 corolla and the androecium, and also a stalk (gyno- 

 phore) between the androecium and the pistil; in 

 jhumka-lata {Passiflora) (see fig. 193) a stalk (gynan- 



