CONSOLIDATION OR ADNATION. 



251 



the adhesion of one organ to another, as that of distinct is to the 

 cohesion of the parts of the same whorl or set of organs. Thus, the 

 stamens are said to he distinct, when not united witli each otlier, and 

 to he free, when they contract no adhesion to the petals, sepals, or 

 pistils ; and the same language is equally applied to all the floral 

 organs. The word connate (born united) is applied either to the 

 congenital union of homogeneous parts (as when we say that the two 

 leaves of the upper pairs of the Honeysuckle are connate. Fig. 294, 

 the sepals or stamens are connate into a tube, or the pistils into a 

 compound pistil), or to the coalescence of heterogeneous parts (as 

 that of the petals with the calyx, or of both with the pistil). But 

 the word adnate belongs to the latter case only. 



467. When such consolidation takes place, and the petals and 

 stamens (which almost always accompany each other), or either of 

 them, are inserted on the 

 calyx, i. e. are adnate with 

 the base of the calyx (as in 

 the Cherry, Fig. 388, or 

 Purslane, Fig. 389), they are 

 said to be perigynous (liter- 

 ally, placed around the pis- 

 til). The real origin of the 

 parts must be the same as in 

 the former case, that is, the 

 parts really belong to the re- 

 ceptacle, in successive circles, 

 one above or within the other, 

 first the sepals, then the pet- 

 als, within these the stamens, 

 and within or above these 

 the pistils ; but the true origin 

 or position of some of the parts is here obscured by the adnation, at 

 their base at least, of parts which are normally separate. In Fig. 

 388, the petals and stamens are adnate to the lower part of the 

 calyx, but all are free from the pistil. But in Fig. 389, all four 

 organs are consolidated below, as far as to the middle of the 

 ovary. 



FIG. 388. Vertical section of a flower of the Cherry, to show the perigynous insertion of 

 the petals and stamens. 



PIG. 389. Similar section of the flower of the Purslane, showing an adnation of parts with 

 the lower part of the every. 



