244 



THE FLOWER. 



indeed, there is but one in a few plants of this family. Now it oc- 

 casionally happens that the doubling of this stamen is, as it were, 



arrested before com- 

 pletion, so that in 

 place of two stamens 

 we have a forked fila- 

 ment bearing a pair 

 of anthers ; as fre- 

 quently happens in 

 some species of Strep- 

 tanthus (Fig. 368). 

 Here the two stamens 

 in place of one may 

 be compared with a 

 compound leaf of two 

 leaflets. In the re- 

 lated Fumitory fam- 

 ily three stamens reg- 

 ularly appear in the 

 place of one. The 

 circles of the flower 

 are in twos throughr 

 out ; viz. there is, 



fu-st, a pair of small scale-like sepals ; alternate with these, a pair 



of petals, which, in DIcentra, &c. (Fig. 369-371), are saccate or 



spurred below ; alternate and within these 



is a second pair of petals (Fig. 372) ; 



alternate with these are two clusters of 



three more or less united stamens, which 



plainly occupy the place of two single 



stamens. Tlie arrangement of parts is 



shown in the annexed diagram (Fig. 



373) ; where the lowest line indicates the 



subtending bract, and therefore the anterior side of the blossom; 



the two short lines in the same plane represent the sepals ; the two 



PIG. 309. Dicentra CucuUaria (Datchman's-Breeches), with its kind of bulb, a leaf, and a 

 scape in flower ; reduced in size. 370. A flower of the natural size. 371. The same, with the 

 parts separated, except the sepals, one of which is seen at the base of the pistil. 372. The 

 inner pair of petals, with their tips coherent. 



FIG. 373. Diagram (cross-section) of the similar flower of Adlumia. 371. One of the sta- 

 mens increased into three by chorisia (the lower part of the common filament is cut away). 



