PART I,—-STRUCTURAL. Z 
same as ‘inferior,’ only for distinction’s sake the latter term is 
confined to the adhesion of the sepals and pistil. Note that 
each petal is obovate in shape—that is, like 
an egg with the broad end upwards—and on 
its inner face near its base is a little scale, 
within which is a small quantity of honey, 
or nectar. This little organ is therefore 
termed a nectary (n, fig. 2), and its function 
is to attract certain insects to the flower. 
The- bright colour of the petals serves the 
same purpose; and, as we shall see later on, Fig. 2. Petal of 
insects have a very important work to perform ee ee i 
in regard to the fiowers. (mag. x oy. 
iach stamen consists of a slender stalk ‘ 
or hlament (/, fig. 3), bearing an elongated yellow head, the 
anther (an). This anther consists of two halves or lobes, 
which are attached to the top of the filament 
by their whole length, and are hence said to be 
adnate.* If the flower under examination has 
been open for a day or two some of the anthers 
will be found to have opened (or dehisced}) 
by lateral slits which extend longitudinally 
along their whole face, and from these slits 
very small yellow powdery grains—the pollen- 
granules—are seen to be escaping. Their struc- 
ture, however, cannot be made out without the Fig. 3. Stamen 
use of a microscope. (If you can examine them of Buttercup, 
mounted in a solution of sugar under a high nt ate 
power, you will find each grain to be a small (mag). 
smooth spherical. cell with granular contents.) 
This pollen is the most important part of the stamens, as 
without 1t no seed could be produced in the carpels. It may 
be termed the male element of the plant, and the stamens 
therefore the male organs. The stamens are all separate 
from one another, and we call their cohesion polyandrous,* 
while trom being fastened on the receptacle under the pistil 
their adhesion is said to be hypogynous, as in the case of 
the petals. (Whenever stamens or carpels are very numerous 
it is not necessary to count them carefully; they are said 
to be indefinite, a term which is shortly expressed by the 
mark co.) If they are counted, however, it will often be 
found that their number is a multiple of that of the sepals or 
petals, and that they are in several distinet whorl¢s. 
* Lat. ad, to; nates, born. 
+ Lat. dehisco, I split open. 
Gr. andros, of ja man—in allusion to the male function of the 
‘stamiens. 
