FLOWERS : THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. 
69 
stamens only, and others perfect, having both stamens and pistils, either on the same 
or on different individuals. The Red Maple is a very good case of this kind ; the 
two or three sorts 
of flowers look- 
ing very differ- 
ently when they 
appear in early 
spring ; those of 
one tree having 
long red stamens 
and no good pis- 
til, those of other 
trees having con- 
spicuous pistils, 
in some blossoms 
with no good sta- 
mens at all, in 
others with short ones. There are also what are called abortive or 
206. Neutral Flowers ; having neither stamens nor pistils, and so good for nothing 
except for show. In the Snowball of the gardens and in richly cultivated Hydran- 
geas all the blossoms are neutral, and no fruit is formed. 
Even in the wild state cf these shrubs, some of the 
blossoms around the margin of the cluster are neu- 
tral (as in the Wild Hydrangea, Fig. 169), consisting 
only of three or four flower-leaves, very much larger 
than the small perfect flowers which make up the rest of 
the cluster. Also what the gardener calls Double Flowers, 
when full, are neutral, as in double Roses and Buttercups. 
These are blossoms which by cultivation have all their 
stamens and pistils changed into petals. 
207. A Symmetrical Flower is one which has an equal 
number of parts of each kind or in each set or row. 
This is so in the Stonecrop (Fig. 153), which has five sepals in the calyx, five petals 
in the corolla, ten stamens (that is, two sets of stamens of five each), and five 
pistils. Or often it has flowers with four sepals, and then there are only four 
170 
Flax. 
