CHAP. II. 
FLOWER. 
151 
4. Of the Flower. 
68 
69 70 71 
The Flower is a terminal bud enclosing the organs of 
reproduction by seed. By the ancients the term flower was 
restricted to what is now called the corolla; but Linnaeus 
wisely extended its application to the union of all the organs 
which contribute to the process of fecundation. The flower, 
therefore, as now understood, comprehends the calyx, the 
corolla, the stamens, and the pistil, of which the two last only 
are indispensable. The calyx and corolla may be wanting, 
and a flower will nevertheless exist ; but, if neither stamens 
nor pistil nor their rudiments are to be found, no assemblage 
of leaves, whatever may be their form or colour, or how much 
soever they may resemble the calyx and corolla, can constitute 
a flower. 
We usually consider the flower to consist of a certain num- 
ber of whorls, or of parts originating round a common centre 
from the same plane. But Adolphe Brongniart has correctly 
pointed out the fact that what we call whorls in a flower are 
in many cases not so, strictly speaking, but only a series of 
parts in close approximation, and at different heights upon 
the short branch that forms the axis. This is particularly 
obvious in a Cistus, where, of the five sepals, two are lower 
and exterior, and three higher and within the first. The 
manner also in which the petals overlap each other evidently 
points to a similar cause, although the fact of those pieces 
L 4 
