THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF FLOWERS. 



129 



Another cause of degeneracy in flowers appears to be a residence in 

 water ; but this by no means affects all plants, such as Water Lilies ; but 

 when flowers of aquatic plants are conspicuous we conclude they are 

 still visited by insects, which counteract any degrading process w^hich the 

 plant most certainly undergoes in its vegetative system in water. If, 

 however, the flowers are inconspicuous and not visited, then some cases 

 serve to indicate that degeneracy applies to the flowers as well as to the 

 stems and leaves. Thus the family Haloragccs has nine genera : all but 

 three are aquatic plants. The structure of the flowers of the type genus 

 Haloragis (mostly Australian) is closely like that of a Fuchsia or Willow 

 herb, as follows : Ca., 4 ; Cor., 4 ; St., 4 + 4 ; Carp., 4 ; the genus Gunncra 

 has the sexes separated as follows : 0 ; 0 ; 2 ; 0 (male) ; 0 ; 0 ; 0 ; 2 

 (female). We have three British genera constructed as follows : 

 Mare's-tail (il?;2^^;zms) 0; 0; 1 ; 1 (fig. 30). Water Milfoil {Mijriophylliim), 

 4 or 0 ; 4 or 2 ; 8, 4 or 2 ; 0 (male) ; 4 or 0 ; 4 or 0 ; 0 ; 4 (female). 

 Water Star-wwt, 0 ; 0 ; 1 ; 0 (male), and 0 ; 0 ; 0 ; 4 (female). 



It will be readily seen how degraded these flowers are, losing calyx, 

 corolla in nearly all, and the sexes becoming separated. 



Having started with extreme simplicity in the flower of the Yew 

 (fig. 34), the female consisting of nothing but an ovule, or as in a Pine, 

 wdth one stamen and a carpellary scale with two ovules (fig. 85), we 

 reached a highly complex condition in Salvias, only to return once more 

 to such a flower as the Mare's-tail, consisting of a single carpel, embedded 

 in a receptacular tube and surmounted by a single stamen (fig. 63), 

 to a still simpler conditon in Spurges, whose male flowers consist of a 

 single stamen only. 



Thus, then, have flowers been both made and unmade. 



K 



