«8 



FLOWERS. L SBCTI0N 8 * 



be left out of view. The want of symmetry is in the stamens. These are in 

 two circles, an outer and an inner. The outer circle consists of two stamens 

 only; the inner has its proper number of four. The flower of Violet, which 

 is on the plan of five, is symmetrical in calyx, corolla, and stamens, inas- 

 much as each of these circles consists of five members ; but it is conspicu- 

 ously irregular in the corolla, one of the petals being very different from the 

 rest. 



254. The flowers of Larkspur, and of Monkshood or Aconite, which are 

 nearly related, are both strikingly irregular in calyx and corolla, and con- 

 siderably unsymmetrical. In Larkspur (Fig. 239-241) the irregular calyx 

 consists of five sepals, one of which, larger than the rest, is prolonged be- 

 hind into a large sac or spur; but the corolla is of only four petals (of two 

 shapes), — the fifth, needed to complete the symmetry, being left out. And 

 the Monkshood (Pig. 242-244) has five very dissimilar sepals, and a corolla 

 of only two very small and curiously-shaped petals, — the three needed to 

 make up the symmetry being left out. The stamens in both are out of 

 symmetry with the ground-plan, being numerous. So are the pistils, which 

 are usually diminished to three, sometimes to two or to one. 



255. Flowers with Multiplication of Parts are very common. The 



stamens are indefinitely numerous 

 in Larkspur and in Monkshood 

 (Eg. 242, 243), while the pistils 

 are fewer than the ground-plan 

 suggests. Most Cactus-flowers 

 have all the organs much in- 

 creased in number (Eg. 229), 

 and so of the Water-Lily. In 

 Anemone (Fig. 233) the stamens 

 and pistils are multiplied while 



the petals are left out. In Buttercups or Crowfoot, while the sepals and 

 petals conform to the ground-plan of five, both stamens and pistils are indefi- 

 nitely multiplied (Fig. 245). 



256. Flowers modified by Union of Parts, so that these parts more 

 or less lose the appearance of separate leaves or other organs growing out 

 of the end of the stem or receptacle, are extremely common. There are two 

 kinds of such union, namely : — 



Coalescence of parts of the same circle by their contiguous margins ; and 

 Aination, or the union of adjacent circles or unlike parts. 



257. Coalescence is not rare in leaves, as in the upper pairs of Honey- 

 suckles, Fig. 163. It may all the more be expected in the crowded circles 

 or whorls of flower-leaves. Datura or Stramonium (Eg. 246) shows this 

 coalescence both in calyx and corolla, the five sepals and the five petals be- 

 ing thus united to near their tips, each into a tube or long and narrow cup. 

 These unions make needful the following terms : — 



Fig. 245. Flower of Ranunculus bulbosus, or Buttercup, in section. 



