138 
ORGANOGRAPHY. 
BOOK I. 
If it is distinct from the ovary, as in Silene, it is said to be 
inferior {calyx infer us^ or liberus) ; and the ovary is then called 
superior [ovarium superum^ or liherum) (Plate V. fig. 3.) ; but 
if it is firmly attached to the sides of the ovary, so that it can- 
not be separated, as in Myriophyllum, it is then called superior 
(calyx superits), and the ovary inferior (ovarium inferum) 
(Plate V. fig. 7. 9.). From what has been said of pappus it 
will be obvious that it is a superior calyx. 
The general opinion of botanists, in regard to the real 
nature of the superior calyx, is such as I have stated; and 
the accuracy of it in the majority of cases is indisputable: 
but it is by no means certain that, in some instances, what is 
called the tube of the calyx is not, as I have elsewhere stated 
(Introduction to the Natural System^ p. 26.), " sometimes a 
peculiar extension or hollowing out of the apex of the pedicel, 
of which we see an example in Eschscholtzia, and of which 
Rosa and Calycanthus, and, perhaps, all supposed tubes with- 
out apparent veins, may also be instances." And if this be 
so, the superior calyx may be so in consequence of the 
cohesion of the ovary wdth the inside of an excavated 
pedicel, and not with the calyx itself. 
When the sepals cohere by their contiguous edges into a 
kind of tube or cup, the calyx is said to be monophyllous ; an 
inaccurate term, which originated in what may be called the 
dark age of botany, when the real nature of organs was 
unknown, and when a monophyllous calyx was thought to 
consist really of a single leaf, clipped into teeth at its margin. 
To avoid this inaccuracy, the word gamosepalous has been 
proposed ; but as the real nature of a monophyllous calyx is 
now understood, changing the term is more embarrassing to 
the student than profitable to science. 
Various terms are employed to express the degree in which 
the sepals of a monophyllous calyx cohere : they will be ex- 
plained in Glossology. When no cohesion whatever takes place 
between the leaves of a calyx, the term sepalous is employed 
with that Greek numeral prefixed, which is equivalent to the 
number of pieces ; as, for example, if they are two, the cal^TC is 
disepalous; if three, trisepalous; if four, tetrasepalous, and so on. 
Sometimes the calyx has certain expansions or dilatations, 
as in Scutellaria and Salsola. These arc generally named 
