CHAPTER VII 



FLOWERS 



94. What is a flower ? A little has been said in Chapter II 

 about the structure and work of the flower, but it will be 

 necessary in the present chapter to take up these matters 



somewhat more 

 in detail. First 

 may come the 

 question as to 

 what a flower 

 really is; that is 

 to say, to what 

 other organs of 

 a plant the parts 

 of a flower cor- 

 respond. Put in 



Fig. 90. The floral organs of alpine azalea (Loiseleuria) more technical 

 A good example of a flower in which the floral organs do not language, this 

 all spring separately from a knob-like receptacle. Here the Question WOuld 

 calyx is very slightly and the corolla decidedly hell-shaped. t- 

 The stamens are distinct from each other, hut the pistil is be, IVhat IS the 

 single and represents several united carpels, jl, an exterior iiuirnJwlomj of 

 view; -B, a lengthwise section of the flower. After H.Miiller -' •^" *^ 



the fliju'iT ? 



A flower is a specialized and highly modified branch or shoot 

 for reproduction of the plant. If this is true, then the sepals 

 or divisions of the calyx, petals or divisions of the corolla, 

 stamens, and pistils (Fig. 90) must represent leaves. It 

 would take too much space to present here the evidence of 

 the branch-like nature of the flower. INIuch of this evidence 

 rests upon the study of the lower plants, and especially on 

 the investigation of the steps by which the higher kinds of 

 plants have in the course of ages been developed from these. 



104 



