^J^ INTBODUCTION. 



^%'^lumes are the braete enolosu.g the flowera of Cyperaoe<. and O^cmine,.. 

 § 8. The Mower in General. 

 fi4 A oomvlete Flower (15) is one in which the caly:s, coroUa, stamens and pistils 

 are til ternt a V^eot flower, one in which all th<j3e organs or such of them as are 

 Z,pKe camhfe of performing their seTcral functions. Therefore, properly speak- 

 ?nT ^CS7flower is one in which any one or more of these organs is wantmg ; 

 Lnd an «wT£ flowlr. one in winch any one or more of these organs is so altered as 

 to he incZaUe of properly performing its functions. These imperfect organs are said 

 be XSiif much reduced in size or efficiency, rudMnenta^y if so "^^''h^o-^^to 

 be scarcely perceptible. But, in many works, the term mcomplete is specidly apphed 

 to those flowers hi wUch the perianth is simple or wanting, and w^erfeot to those m 

 which either the stamens or pistil areunperfect or wantmg. 



^^'i^T^^dlms, when the perianth is double, both calyx and coroUa being present. 



moZlhlamydeous, when the perianth is single, whether by the union-of the calyx 

 and coroUa, or the deficiency of either. 



asepalons, when there is no calyx. 



apetalous, when there is no coroUa. 



naked, when there is no perianth at all. 



hermaphrodite or bisexual, when both stamens and pistU are present and periect. 



male or staminate, when there are one or more stamens, but either no pistil at all 

 or an imperfect one. 



female or pistillate, when there is a pistU, but either no stamens at aU, or only 

 imperfect ones. ; 



neuter, when both stamens and pistU are imperfect or wantmg. 



barren or sterile, when from any cause it produces no seed. 



fertile, when it does produce seed. In some works the terms barren, fertile, and 

 perfect are also used respectively as synonyms o{ male, female, and hermaphrodite. 



86. The flowers of a plant or species are said coUectely to be unisexual or diclinous 

 when the flowers are aU either mtde or female. 



monoecious, when the male and female flowers are distinct, but on the same plant. 

 dioecious, when the male and female flowers are on distinct plants. 

 polygamous, when there are male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers on the same 

 or on distinct plants. 



87. A head of flowers is heterogamous when male, female, hermaphrodite, and neuter 

 flowers, or any two or three of them, are included in one head ; homogamous, when aU 

 the flowers included in one head are alike in this respect. A spike or head of flowers 

 is a/ndrogynous when male and female flowers are mixed in it. These terms are only 

 used in the case of veiy few Natural Orders. 



88. As the scales of buds are leaves undeveloped or reduced in size and altered in 

 shape and consistence, and bracts are leaves likewise reduced in size, and occasionally 

 altered iu colour ; so the parts of the flower are considered as leaves stUl further altered 

 in shape, colour, and arrangement round the axis, and often more or less combined with 

 each other. The detaUs of this theory constitute the comparatively modern branch of 

 botany called Vegetable Metamorphosis, or Homology, sometimes improperly termed 

 Morphology (8). 



89. To understand the arrangement of the floral parts, let us take a complete flower, 

 in which moreover aU the parts are free from each other, definite in number, i. e. always 

 the same in the same species, and symmetrical or isomerous, i. e. when each whorl con- 

 sists of the same number of parts. 



90. Such a complete symmetrical flower consists usually of either four or five whorls 

 of altered leaves {88),' plsiced immediately one within the other. 



The Calyx forms the outer whorl. Its parts are caUed sepals. 



