THE INSESTION OF THE FLOWBB 151 



to) parts of another set, and distinct when the mem- . 

 bers of any series are not united with each other. 



168. The apple is not so (Fig. 139). There is 

 no obvious receptacle, but the stalk seems to grow 

 directly into the flower. More than that, the parts 

 of the flower are not free and distinct, for the 

 five carpels (as indicated by the five styles) are 

 gro"wn into one compound ovary, the sepals seem 

 to be attached to this ovary, and the stamens to be 

 borne on the very lowermost part of the sepals. 

 (See Obs. Iv.) It is evident, then, that the parts of 

 flowers may be variously consolidated; and it is ap- 

 parent, also, that the insertion of the flower may 

 be simple, as in the mustard (the parts all borne 

 upon a distinct receptacle), or it may be complex 

 (the parts variously superposed upon each other). 



169. There are, then, two more or less distinct 

 positions of the ovary with reference to the inser- 

 tion of the other parts, — either the ovary may be 

 superior (free from the other parts, and, therefore, 

 inserted above them, or wholly inside the flower), 

 as in the mustard, or it may be inferior, as in 

 the apple (the other parts, or some of them, borne 

 upon it). 



170. The insertion of the flower may also be 

 expressed in terms of the other series, as well as 

 in terms of the pistil. Instead of saying that the 

 ovary is inferior in the apple, we might say that 



