254 



THE FLOWER. 



form a body in shape resembling the keel, or rather the narrow 

 prow, of an ancient vessel, are named the carina or heel. The calyx 

 of the same blossom is slightly irregular by the unequal union of 

 parts, the two upper sepals being united higher than the other three. 

 In Baptisia these two sepals are coalescent to the tip, or nearly so, 



causing the calyx to ap- 

 pear as if formed of four 

 sepals instead of five In 

 most Lupines, not only are 

 the two upper sepals coa- 

 lescent into one body near- 

 ly or quite to the tip, but 

 the three remaining ones 

 are likewise united into 

 one body, on the lower side 

 of the flower, thus giving 

 the calyx the appearance 

 of consisting of two petals 

 in place of five. The ir- 

 regularity of papilionaceous flowers likewise affects the stamens, 

 which, although of symmetrical number, 

 viz. ten, or two circles, are in most eases 

 unequally coalescent, nine of them being 

 united by the cohesion of their filaments 

 for the greater part of their length, 

 while the tenth (the posterior) stamen 

 is distinct ; as is illusti'ated in the sec- 

 tion on the stamens (518). But in 

 Amorpha (Fig. 395), which belongs to 

 the same tribe of plants, the ten stamens 

 are united barely at their base ; and 

 there is a complete return to regularity 

 in those of Baptisia (Fig. 394) and 

 Sophora, which are perfectly distinct or 

 separate. The Violet (Fig. 397) offers 

 another very familiar form of irregu- 

 lar flowers ; the irregularity belonging 



.FIG. 393. Papilionaceous flower of Baptisia. 394. Tho same, witli the petals remOTed, 

 stiowing the ten distinct stamens. 



FIG. 395. Flower of Amorpha. 395'. The same, with the solitary petal removed, showing 

 the slightly monadelphous stamens. 



FIG. 396. Flower of Viola Eaglttata. 897. Its sepals and petals displayed. 



