Xll 
OUTLINES OF 
§ 8. The Flower in General 
84. A complete Flower (15) is one in which the calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil 
are all present ; a perfect flower, one in which all these organs, or such of them as 
;ire present, are capable of performing their several functions. Therefore, properly 
speaking, an incomplete flower is one in which any one or more of these organs is 
wanting ; and an imperfect flower, one in which any one or more of these organs is 
so altered as to be incapable of properly performing its functions. These imperfect 
organs are said to be abortive if much reduced in size or efficiency, rudimentary if so 
much so as to he scarcely perceptible. But in many works, the term incomplete is 
specially applied to those flowers in which the perianth is simple or wanting, and 
imperfect to those in which either the stamens or pistils are imperfect or wanting. 
85. A Flower is 
dichlamydeous, when the perianth is double, both calyx and corolla being present 
and distinct. 
monochlamydeous, when the perianth is single, whether by the union of the 
calyx and corolla, or the deficiency of either. 
asepalous , when there is no calyx. 
apetalous , when there is no corolla. 
naked , or achlamydeous, when there is no perianth at all. 
hermaphrodite or bisexual , when both stamens and pistil are present and perfect. 
male or staminate , when there are one or more stamens, but either no pistil at 
all or an imperfect one. 
female or pistillate , when there is a pistil, but either no stamens at all, or only 
imperfect ones. 
neuter when both stamens and pistil are imperfect or wanting. 
barren or sterile , when from any cause it produces no seed. 
fertile , when it does produce seed. In some works the terms barren , fertile, and 
perfect , are also used respectively as synonyms of male, female, and hermaphrodite. 
86. The flowers of a plant or species are said collectively to be unisexual or dicli- 
nous when the flowers are all either male or female. 
monoecious, when the male and female flowers are distinct, but on the same plant. 
dioecious , when the male and female flowers are on distinct plants. 
polygamous , when there are male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers on the 
same or on distinct plants. 
87. A head of flowers is heterogamous when male, female, hermaphrodite, and 
neuter flowers, or any two or three of them, are included in one head : homogamous, 
when all the flowers included in one head are alike in this respect. A spike or head 
of flowers is androgynous when male and female flowers are mixed in it. These 
terms are only used in the case of very few Natural Orders. 
88. As the scales of buds are leaves undeveloped or reduced in size and altered in 
shape and consistence, and bracts sre leaves likewise reduced in size, and occasionally 
altered in colour ; so the parts of the flower are considered as leaves still further 
altered' in shape, colour, and arrangement round the axis, and often more or less 
combined with each other. The details of this theory constitute the comparatively 
modem branch of botany called Vegetable Metamorphosis or Homology , sometimes 
improperly termed Morphology (8). 
89. To understand the arrangement of the floral parts, let us take a complete 
flower, in which moreover all the parts are free from each other, definite in number, 
i.e., always the same in the same species, and symmetrical or isomer ous, i.e., when 
each whorl consists of the same number of parts. 
90. Such a complete symmetrical flower consists usually of either four or five 
whorls of altered leaves (88), placed immediately one within the other. 
The Calyx forms the outer whorl. Its parts are called sepals. 
The Corolla forms the next whorl. Its parts, called petals , usually alternate 
with the sepals ; that is to say, the centre of each petal is immediately over or 
within the interval between two sepals. 
The Stamens form one or two whorls within the petals. If two, those of the 
outer whorl (the outer stamens) alternate with the petals, and are consequently 
