Classification of Plants 



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with scales, serving as a honej'-guard. Softly hairy herbs. 

 Radical leaves tapering into petioles, stem leaves sessile. The 

 colour changes as the flowers grow older, from white to rosy 



Fig. '^^}.- — A'whusa (Alkanet). i, l.'orolla Uid open sho\\ing corona and 

 stamens: 2, calyx; 3, pistil with 4-lobed o\'ai"y : 4, fruit. (From Henslow's 

 " South African Flowering Plants ".) 



buds and blue flowers, or from yellow through bluish to violet. 

 In Echium the change is from red through violet to blue. This, 

 says Herman Muller, suggests that white, yellow, and red 

 flowers were the ancestors of violet and blue flowers. 

 Heliotrope belongs to this order. 



Order Sol.\n.^ce-E. 



Calyx 5-parted, persistent (except Datura). Corolla con- 

 volute. I^etals plaited in bud. Stamens 5, alternate with 

 and upon the petals. Carpels 2, placed obliquely in the 

 flower. Flowers solitary or in cymes. Herbs, shrubs, or small 

 trees. I'ruit a capsule or berry. 



Leaves exstipulate, alternate (whorled in Retzia). In the 

 flowering portions the leaves appear more or less opposite. 

 This is due to a peculiarity of growth. A leaf remains adnate 



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