OUTLINES OF BOTaNT. 
XIX 
supply bees with their honey, and the term is frequently to be met with in the older 
Floras, but is now deservedly going out of use. 
139. When the disk bears the petals and stamens, it is frequently adherent to, and 
apparently forms part of, the tube of the calyx, or it is adherent to, and apparently 
forms part of, the ovary, or of both calyx-tube and ovary. Hence the three following 
important distinctions in the relative insertion of the floral whorls. 
140. Petals, or as it is frequently expressed, flowers, are 
hypogynous (i. e. under the ovary), when they or the disk that bears them are en- 
tirely free both from the calyx and ovary. The ovary is then described as free or su- 
perior, the calyx as free or inferior, the petals as being inserted on the receptacle. 
perigynous (i. e. round the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is quite free 
from the ovary, but is more or less combined with the base of the calyx-tube. The 
ovary is then still described as free or superior, even though the combined disk and 
calyx-tube may form a deep cup with the ovary lying in the bottom ; the calyx is said 
to be free or inferior , and the petals are described as inserted on the calyx. 
epigynous ( i . e. upon the ovary), when the disk bearing the petals is combined both 
with the base of the calyx-tube and the base outside of the ovary ; either closing over 
the ovary 30 as only to leave a passage for the style, or leaving more or less of the top 
of the ovary free, but always adhering to it above the level of the insertion of the lowest 
ovule (except in a very few cases where the ovules are absolutely suspended from the 
top of the eell). In epigynou3 flowers the ovary is described as adherent or inferior , 
the calyx as adherent or superior, the petals as inserted on or above the ovary. In 
some works, however, most epigynous flowers are included in the perigynous ones, and 
a very different meaning is given to the term epigynous (144), and there are a few cases 
where no positive distinction can be drawn between the epigynous and perigynous 
flowers, or again between the perigynous and hypogynous flowers. 
141. When there are no petals, it is the insertion of the stamens that determines 
the difference between the hypogynous, perigynous, and epigynous flowers. 
142. When there are both petals and stamens, 
in hypogynous flowers, the petals and stamens are usually free from each other, 
but sometimes they are combined at the base. In that ease, if the petals are distinct 
from each other, and the stamens are monadelphous, the petals are often said to be 
inserted on or combined with the staminal tube ; if the corolla is gamopetalous and the 
stamens distinct from each other, the latter are said to be inserted in the tube of the 
corolla. 
in perigynous flowers, the stamens are usually inserted immediately within the 
petals, or alternating with them on the edge of the disk, but occasionally much lower 
down within the disk, or even on the unenlarged part of the receptacle. 
in epigynous flowers, when the petals are distinct, the stamens are usually inserted 
as in perigynous flowers ; when the corolla is gamopetalous, the stamens are either free 
and hypogynous, or combined at the base with (inserted in) the tube of the corolla. 
143. When the receptacle is distinctly elongated below the ovary, it is often called 
a gynobasis, gynophore, or stalk of the ovary. If the elongation takes place below the 
stamens or below the petals, these stamens or petals are then said to be inserted on the 
stalk of the ovary, and are occasionally, but falsely, described as epigynous. Really 
epigynous stamens (i. e. when the filaments are combined with the ovary) are very rare, 
unless the rest of the flower is epigynous. 
144. An epigynous disk is a name given either to the thickened summit of the ovary 
in epigynous flowers, or very rarely to a real disk or enlargement of the receptacle 
closing over the ovary. 
145. In the relative position of any two or more parts of the flower, whether in the 
same or in different whorls, they are 
conmvent , when nearer together at the summit than at the base. 
divergent, when further apart at the summit than at the base. 
coherent, when united together, but so slightly that they can be separated with 
little or no laceration ; and one of the two cohering parts (usually the smallest or least 
important) is said to be adherent to the other. Grammatically speaking, these two 
terms convey nearly the same meaning, but require a different form of phrase ; prac- 
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