134 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
ance and colour, it is almost always confounded with the peduncle, 
of which it appears to be a mere prolongation, an expansion which 
afterwards subdivides into several lobes. 
The simple form of the calyx is suited, however, to its functions. 
It is, in general, not elegance or delicacy, 
but firmness and solidity, which are able to 
protect or defend. As the calyx forms the 
external envelope of the flower, it must be 
constituted so as to resist action from with- 
out. It is true that the calyx of some 
plants, such as the Fuchsia (Fig. 157), rivals 
the corolla in elegance and beauty, but these 
are exceptions to the general facts. 
The calyx is, then, the external envelope 
of the flower, and its different parts bear the 
\\ name of sepals, / 
These sepals, however, are only modified 
leaves. If we glance at the Camelia-bud 
(Fig. 158), the same structure, the same 
nervature, almost the same form, will be 
9 observed to belong both to the five sepals of 
Fig. 157.—The Fuchsia. — the flower, and to the bracts accompanying 
them. In the Peony, and Foxglove (Fig. 159), there is still a 
resemblance, or rather an insensible transition, between the bracts 
and the sepals). When we notice the various 
transitions of appearance, form, and size between 
bracts and leaves, we are led of necessity to con- 
sider the calyx of flowers as proceeding from @ 
‘=| modification of the leaves. : 
: e calyx seems sometimes to be formed all in 
one piece, and sometimes it is more or less deeply 
divided. In the former case it is monosepalous, 
the latter it is polysepalous. 
, The flower of the Primrose (Fig. 160) has & 
Fig. 158.—Calyx of Monosepalous calyx, that of the Flax-plant (Fig: _ 
ouiresa 161) has a polysepalous calyx. : 
Ancient authors considered the calyx as an entire organ, which 
was sometimes cut more or less deeply. To this false idea we Owe 
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