102 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
May — near the end of the season for the earh^ spring 
flowers, and some time after the other trees have donned 
their summer foHage. 
The flower-buds appear to be formed in autumn and 
to pass the winter in wrappings similar to those of the 
leaf-buds. The flowers are as deliberate in opening as are 
the leaves and when the3^ do bloom present a singular 
appearance strung along the nearl^^ naked branches as 
represented in our illustration. At a little distance, a 
papaw thicket at flowering time looks like a thicket 
through which a forest fire has recently passed. 
The flowers approach globose inform and hang down- 
ward from the axils of the leaves. The sepals are rather 
short, but the six petals are quite large, often twice as 
large as those in the illustration, and increase in size for 
some time after the flower has opened. Although the 
flower is constructed upon what appears to be the plan of 
three, it is really a dicot3dedon. As floral relationships 
go, however, it is not very high in development and it is 
noticeable that it belongs to the group which includes the 
barberr}^, magnolia, mandrake, water-lily, cahxanthus 
and other plants whose flowers have not yet settled down 
into the usual five-parted t3'pe of the dicot3dedons. The 
color of the petals may be described as dull red, though 
Gra^^ calls them dull purple and others describe them as 
brown. Careful observation wdll show^ that red and 
brow^n colors predominate. The flowers are apparently 
adapted for cross-pollination for the stigmas, though rip- 
ening at about the same time as the stamens, project 
beyond them and so are not easily self-pollinated. The 
two sets of thick, veiny petals alternate wath each other 
and enclose the essential organs except for a triangular 
opening which resembles the entrance to the flower of 
Canada ginger. The smaller inner petals secrete an 
abundance of nectar on the inner side near the base, and 
here the color is paler, serving as an efficient '*hone3^- 
guide." The flowers have a heavy, yeast\^, rather disa- 
greeable odor with just a hint of the smell of the ripe fruit 
