COHESION AND SUPPRESSION. 



247 



periantli-whorl were united into a double-leaf, recog- 

 nizable by the two parallel beards ; of the inner whorl 

 only the two lateral anterior ones were present. Of 

 the single outer staminal whorl the two posterior 

 stamens were so closely approximated as to form a 

 pair in front of the two beards. Of the two median 

 stigmas the posterior was a two-keeled double-leaf. 

 The ovary was indeed bilocular below, but the two 

 posterior loculi were smaller, opposed to the anterior 

 one, and fused into a single loculus above (fig. 150 a). 



" In a second flower the 2-merous condition was still 

 more pronounced. Here the two posterior perianth- 



Fig. 150. — Iris hungarica. a. Diagram of flower showing transition 

 between di- and trimery. b. The same ; change to dimery more 

 complete, c. Diagram of completely dimerous flower of the more 

 usual type, b, bract. (After Heinricher.) 



leaves were so intimately united that only a single 

 beard, divided at its upper end, was present, and the 

 two leaves of the inner whorl were exactly transverse. 

 Of the staminal whorl only two median members were 

 present, of which the posterior bore a double anther 

 which was bipartite above. The carpellary whorl was 

 completely 2-merous (two stigmas, bilocular) and 

 median. There had thus obtained in the first, third, 

 and fifth whorls a more or less complete union of the 

 posterior members ; in the second and fourth whorls, 

 however, suppression of the posterior members (along 

 with displacement), all according to the law of reduc- 

 tion (fig. 150 b). The only really remarkable point to 

 notice is that the first perianth-whorl, which has 



