60 
CLLYX. 
fruit. Lili 2 them should the young improve the bloom of life, so that when youth 
and beauty shall fade away, their minds may exhibit that fruit which it is the 
business of youth to nurture and mature. 
66. T7ie Flower and its ajjpendages.- — ^The essciitiel organs of 
reproduction in flowering plants are the Flower^ the Fruity and 
the Seed. The flower consists of wJiorled leaves or verticils 
placed on an axis called the thalamus or torus. There are in 
most perfect plants four of these whorls. It is the normal ^*-iw 
that each of these whorls is equal in number of parts, and al- 
ternate in position. 
At Fig. 69, the calyx, a a, is composed of a whorl of five Fig. 60 
equal sepals ; a corolla, 6 b, of the five petals in an inner whorl 
alternating with the parts of the calyx ; five stamens, c c, in 
a whorl within the corolla and between its parts and oppo- 
site to the pieces of the calyx ; and the five parts of the pis- 
til follow the same normal rule. 
But though in many cases it is easy to trace 
this arrangement, there are irregularities pro- 
duced by the union of one part with another 
by the absorption or degeneration of some poi'tions, and by the 
multiplying {deduplication\ or disguising of others in various 
v/ays. Of the four whorls, the two outer are called floral en- 
mlopfcs ; the two inner ^ essential organs. When calyx and co- 
rolla are both present, the plants are dicJdamydeous / when one 
of these organs is wanting, mo7iOGhlamydeous / and when both 
are wanting, achlamydeous. The manner in which sepals and 
petals ai-e situated in the flower-bud is termed their cestivation^ 
or proefvoration., which is the same to the flower-bud as venation 
is to the leaf-bud. This is valvate when the sepals or petals fit 
by their edges, as in the petals of umbelliferous plants ; imhrir 
cated when the outermost pieces cover the margins of the inner, 
as in the calyx of the Hypericum ; twisted or contorted when 
each piece overtops the next one and the whole appears spi- 
rally twisted. 
67. The calym consists of verticillate leaves, called sepals or 
pliylla. The calycine leaves are sometimes sej^arate from each 
other, in which case the calyx \q polysepalous., or polyphyllous ; 
when the leaves of the calyx are united the calyx is said to be 
gamosepalous or gamopliyllous. 
a. Tlie calyx may be wanting, as in the lily and tulip. The corolla is also want- 
ing in many plants ; as in most of the forest-trees, which to a careful observer may 
seem to produce no flower ; but the presence of a stamen and pistil, is in botan;y 
ponsidered as constituting a perfect Jiower. These two organs are essential to the 
perfection of the fruit ; and when a flower is destitute either of stamens or pistils, 
it is termed imperfect. A flower is said to be incomplete when any of the seven 
organs of fructification are wanting. The word calyx is derived from the Greek, 
and literally signifies a cup ; it is the outer cover of the corolla, and usually green , 
66. The flower — Normal law respecting its parts — Irregularities, how caused 1 — Names of the fooi 
whorls — 67. The calyx — a. Perfect on iini)erfect tlower 
