I04 



CH^ROPHYLLUM, MYRRHIS. 



[chap. 



fleshy disk ; the stamens, also five, alternating with 

 the petals. 



The self-fertilisation which, in small flowers such 

 as these, would otherwise naturally occur, is provided 

 against by the fact that the flowers are generally pro- 

 terandrous, the stamens ripening before the pistil, 

 and the latter not being mature until the former have 

 shed their pollen ; as, for instance, is shown in the 

 following enlarged figures of the Wild Chervil [Chcero- 

 phyllum sylvestre). Fig. 84 represents a floret in the 

 earlier (male) condition, showing three ripe («') and 



Fio. 84.— Flower of the WUd Chervil in Fig. 85.— Ditto, in the second (female) 

 the first (male) state. state. 



two still immature («), while the stigmas have not yet 

 made their appearance ; in Fig. 85 is represented 

 the same flower in a more advanced condition, the 

 stamens having fallen off, and the stigmas {st) being 

 now mature. In some cases, flowers in both condi- 

 tions may be found in the same head or umbel ; in 

 others, as, for instance, in Myrrhis, the flowers of one 

 head are all firstly in the male condition, and subse- 

 quently in that with mature stigmas, none of them 

 arriving at the second stage until they have all passed 

 through the first. 



It will be seen that in these florets the petals are 



