106 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



upon the edges in membranous lobes, generally five in number,^ dis- 

 posed in quineuncial prsefloration in the bud. In the intervals are 

 found as many, or a smaller number ^ of appendages, generally 

 fleshy ot glandular, very varied in form, sometimes petaloid and 



Euphorbia Lathyris. 



Fig. 146. Long. sect, of flower (^) 



Fig. 144. Flower (f), 



Fig. 147. Flower, the perianth 

 taken away. 



Fig. 149. Seed (4). Fig. 148 Deliiaoent fruit (a). Fig. 150. Long. sect, of seed. 



much more developed than the true sepals, sometimes much cut and 

 covered with numerous glands ; their nature has been much dis- 

 cussed. The androceum is formed of an indefinite number of 

 stamens, disposed in five bundles, and inserted on a line correspond- 

 ing to the middle of the face of each sepal. In each bundle the 

 stamens are alternately disposed in two unequal parallel series,^ 

 each formed of ah -articulate filament of variable height, from a 

 certain age, and of a bilocular anther, dehiscing by two longitudinal 

 clefts, lateral, or more or less extrorse.* In the intervals of the 

 bundles of stamens are generally seen five tongues, or five 



1 There sometimes flowers with four, more 

 rarely with seven or eight parts. 



2 One, two, the anterior often wanting, fig. 

 145. 



3 Shorter as they are more inferior in the 

 bundle, 



* The pollen is, accordiug to H. Mohl (in 



Ann. Sc. Nat. ser 2, iii. 338), " ovoid, three 

 folds ; in water spherical, with three bands, with 

 papiUce upon the bands. E. Peplus, (oval sm- 

 bilici placed lengthwise) H. aylvatiea, E. verru- 

 cosa, E. virgata. In the three latter, the um- 

 bicili so largo that there only remain a small 

 border of the bands. 



