350 THE CROWFOOT FAMILY 



of marsh-marigold are inserted upon the torus below the 

 ovaries, or that their insertion is hypogynous.'- This implies 

 that the gynoecium is inserted wholly above the other organs 

 of the flower, or, in a word, that the ovaries are superior. 

 Superior ovaries are found in nearly all of the crowfoot 

 family. The torus is usually either convex (Fig. 290), 

 conical (Fig. 293), or much elongated (Fig. 285). Peonies, ou 

 the contrary (Fig. 282), have the torus slightly concave so that 

 it forms a shallow cup at the bottom of which the pistils are 

 inserted, while around its rim are borne the stamens, petals, 

 and sepals. Such insertion of the andra'cium and floral 

 envelopes makes them perigynous - and the ovaries half- 

 inferior. Wholly inferior ovaries occur as we shall see in 

 other families but not in this. 



Throughout the family the floral organs are free, that is 

 to say each set is inserted on the torus independentlj' and 

 develops unconnected with other sets. Furthermore, with 

 few exceptions, the organs of each set are distijict, that is, 

 unconnected with one another. The chief exceptions are in 

 certain species related to the Christmas rose and in fennel- 

 flowers where, as we have seen, the carpels have grown up 

 joined together or are somewhat coalescent ' as botanists 

 say when the parts united are of the same sort. 



Another feature exhibited in general b}- the flowers of this 

 family is the alternation of the parts, by which we mean that 

 the members of one whorl or rosette stand in front of the 

 spaces between the members of the next whorl or rosette, 

 when of the same number. This is well shown in the floral 

 diagrams. Figs. 178, 282, 284, 28G, 287, 288, 290, 293. At first 

 sight, this may not seem to be true of the stamens and stami- 

 nodes of columbines and monkshoods but the alternation 

 will be apparent when it is remembered that the parts are in 

 whorls of five. 



Iha fruit of a flowering plant is understood to include the 

 seeds and wliatever parts ripen with them. The ripened 



' Hy-pog'y-nous < Gr. hijpo, bcneatli; gync, pistil. 



'' Pe-rig'-y-nou.s < dr. peri, arounil. 



' Co-al-es'-cent < en, together; aloicvn:, di f^row up. 



