XIV 
DESCRIPTIONS OF BOTANICAL TERMS 
A stipule is a scale- or leaf-like body situated at the base of the leaf-stalks, or on the 
joints (nodes) of the stem ; when present there are generally two to each leaf. 
A sheath is the flattened and expanded base of the leaf-stalk, which sometimes, as in the Parsley 
Family (Umbelliferse), completely surrounds the stem. 
A flower, when perfect, is composed of four parts, the calyx, corolla, stamens and pistil, 
which are placed together in circles, and usually situated on the top of a flower-stalk ( peduncle ) ; 
sometimes, however, they are found placed immediately upon the stem, when they are said 
to be sessile. 
The calyx is the outermost, and consists of a circle of leaf-like parts called sepals ; 
they are usually green, but sometimes they are brightly coloured, as the petals 
are, and then they are called petaloid ; they may be free from one another or entirely 
or more or less united, and they vary in shape. 
The corolla is inside the calyx and is composed of a circle of leaf-like parts called petals, 
which are usually gaily coloured and of a more delicate consistency than the sepals ; 
they may be free from one another or entirely or more or less united, and they vary 
very much in shape. 
These two circles of organs are the floral leaves which protect the essential organs of the plant. 
They are of no vital use, and all flowers do not have them. They are for the protection of the 
stamens and pistil, and their beautiful colours and markings are to attract insects which take the 
pollen from one flower to another and so fertilise the plant. 
The stamens come next and consist of a varying number of stalks, called filaments, 
each surmounted with an oblong or rounded case, called an anther, which contains 
the pollen ; sometimes the filaments are long and thread-like, sometimes they are 
united entirely, or more or less, into a sheath surrounding the pistil ; the anthers 
vary in size and shape and may also be free from one another or united together. 
The stamens are the male or fertilising organs. 
The pistil forms the centre of the flower and is composed of one or more carpels which 
may be free from one another, or entirely, or more or less, united together; each 
carpel consists of a seedcase, called the ovary (which contains the ovules or 
unfertilised seeds) ; a stalk-like column, of varying length, called the style, which 
is occasionally absent; and crowning all a structure varying in shape known as the 
stigma ; when mature the stigma becomes sticky, and to it adhere the grains of 
pollen, brought by insect or wind, which are necessary to fertilise the ovules and so 
develop the seeds. The pistil is the female or fruit-bearing organ. 
A flower is said to be perfect when all these four parts are present, as in the Buttercup, and 
imperfect when any of the parts are wanting, as in the White Bryony. It is said to be regular when 
the petals are all the same shape and size, and irregular when they differ in shape and size. 
The receptacle is the expanded apex of the flower-stalk on which the parts of the flower are 
placed ; it may be flat, convex, or concave ; when convex it is sometimes very little larger than the 
top of the stalk, but at other times it is greatly expanded, as in the Teazle and Daisy Families 
(Dipsacese and Compositae), when instead of one flower a whole colony of little flowers is 
clustered upon it. 
A bract is a modified leaf borne on the flower-stalk, usually much smaller than the ordinary 
leaf and generally undivided ; sometimes scale-like ; it may be green, or coloured as the petals, 
when it is said to be petaloid ; there may be one or more up the flower-stalk, as in the Violet, 
