. Plant life [microform]. Botany; Botanique. 118 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. M I i i: is carried off by the visiting insect to the female flowers on the next plant it visits. Indeed, you may gather by this time how great a variety of devices natural selection has produced for securing this great desideratum of fresh blood, or cross-fertilisation., from a totally distinct plant colony. A much commoner Enghsh wild-flower than the arrowhead shows us another form of early threefold blossom. I mean the water-plan- tain (Fig. 21), a pretty feathery weed, which grows by the side of most ponds and lake-
. Plant life [microform]. Botany; Botanique. 118 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. M I i i: is carried off by the visiting insect to the female flowers on the next plant it visits. Indeed, you may gather by this time how great a variety of devices natural selection has produced for securing this great desideratum of fresh blood, or cross-fertilisation., from a totally distinct plant colony. A much commoner Enghsh wild-flower than the arrowhead shows us another form of early threefold blossom. I mean the water-plan- tain (Fig. 21), a pretty feathery weed, which grows by the side of most ponds and lake- lets. In the water- plantain you have a flower of both sexes combined; it consists of three green sepals, FIO. 21.—FLOWER OP WATEF- /^^^^„« o *^^rt+^i^?Tr« PLANTAIN. The male and ^^^:^^^S ^ a protective female parts are in the same calyx; three delicate blossom. pinky - white petals, forming the corolla; six stamens—that is to say, two rows of three each; and a number of small one-seeded carpels, exactly as in the buttercup, which occupies, in fact, the corresponding place among the fivefold flowers. But it is not often in the threefold flowers that we get the calyx green and the corolla coloured, as in these simple and very early types. Most often in this great group of plants the calyx and corolla are both brightly coloured, and both alike. 1. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Allen, Grant, 1848-1899. London : Hodder and Stoughton
Size: 1646px × 1517px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookau, bookpublisherlondonhodderandstoughton, booksubjectbotany
