262 THE FLOWKH. 



complete. And in the '\\''illow (Fig. 415-418) we have separated 

 flowers extremely simplified by abortion. The flowers are crowded in 

 catkins, each one in the axil of a bract : the staminate flowers consist 

 of a few stamens merelj', in tliis species of only two (Fig. 41 C), and the 

 pistillate, of a pistil merely (Fig. 418). That is, the flowers are wholly 

 destitute of calyx and corolla (unless a little glandular scale on the 

 upper side should be a rudimentary perianth of a single piece), and 

 in one set of blossoms the stamens are also suppressed ; in another, 

 the pistils. Tlie stamens vary in number in different species, from 

 two to five. If there were only one of the latter, an instance would 

 be afforded of flowers reduced, not merely to one kind of organ, but to 

 a single member. Now there is one species of Willow, which ap- 

 pears to have its sterile blossoms reduced to a solitary stamen. It 

 has therefore been named Salix monandra. But on in- 

 spection this seemingly single stamen is found to consist 

 of two united with each other quite to the top (Fig. 

 419). Here, as in many other cases, the normal condi- 

 tion of the flower is not only much altered by the sup- 

 pression of most of the organs, but disguised by the coa- 

 lescence of those that remain. 



484. In separated flowers the two kinds of blossoms 

 may be borne either upon diflFerent parts of the same 

 individual, or upon entirely different individuals. The flowers are 

 said to be monoecious when both kinds are borne on the same plant ; 

 as in Indian Corn, the Birch, the Oak, Beech, Hazel, Hickory, &c. : 

 and they are called dioecious when borne by different individuals ; as 

 in the Willow and Poplar, the Sassafras, the Prickly Ash, the Hemp 

 and Hop, Moonseed (Fig. 413, 414), &c. Occasionally, while some 

 of the flowers are staminate only, and others pistillate only, a por- 

 tion are pei-fect, the different kinds occurring either on the same or 

 different individuals ; as in most Palms, in many species of Maple, 

 &c. : plants with such flowers are said to be polygamous. 



485. In some of the blossoms of certain plants both stamens and 

 pistils are wanting. This is the case with those that occupy the 

 margin of the cymes of the Hobblebush and some other Viburnums, 

 and of Hydrangea (Fig. 420), or even with the whole cluster in 

 cultivated monstrous states, as in the Snowball or Guelder-Rose 

 of the gardens (Viburnum Opulus). Here the enlarged corollas 



FIG 419 A fitaminate flower of Salix purpurea (or monandra), with the stamens coalescent 

 (monadelplious and syngenesious), so as to appear like a single one. 



