!\ )6 



DEGZyCRACT OF FLOWEES. 261 



the pemanent forms of the flowers of O. eomiculata, which I 

 at first inferred, from tte wide distribntion of this species, 

 must be habitually self-fertnisin?. From Fi?. 57, a, it will be 

 seen thai the corolla jnsi protrndes from the closed sepals, 

 and alwajs remains as a '• cap," b. Of the ten anthers, £-.-e 

 are often abortiTe or wanting, d; the fertile anthers are 

 placed over the xery short stigmas, and are bonnd toeether 

 by fine threads. Th^ie appear to play some part, bat the 

 nature of their function ig ofcscore, c. 



Impatiens fulva and I. Xoli-me-tangere have also cleisto- 

 gamoos flowers. Fi?. 58, a, represents 

 a bud, and 6 two metamorphosed sta- 

 mens. 



Lamium amplexicauU will fnmish " V r \, ^ 



another example of cleistogamy. Th^s tig. ».— «, asiaopaaaaa 

 gen OS has usually flowers highly differen- /..ic?,- b, aun^s^^ 

 tiated, and adapted to insect fertilisation. ^-""''O- 

 That the cleistogamons flowers of this, as of all other species, 

 are degraded forms of the normal kind is obvijas from the 

 presence of the "lip," as weU as by there being four and 

 didynamons stamens. The style elongates very much, and 

 under the pressnre of the closed 

 summit of the corolla becomes bent, 

 so that the stigmas lie between the 

 anther-cells, and thns readily become 

 fertilised. Fig. 59, a, represents a 

 flower-bnd ; b, the corolla in section ; 

 and c, the pistil removed. This Fic. sa.—a. aestuetmoaa Bower- 



..^ ... . . , . bpd of jjOmUmm amf i nicam te; t^ 



condition of CleiStOgamy is fonnd in Totial ttctioa at mae; c. piadL 



the earlier-flowering plants, so that it is probably a mere 

 result of check through a colder temperature. 



Salvia dandegtina th&j be compared with the last 

 described, as it is a self -fertilising form of, perhaps, 8. pro- 



