. Plant life [microform]. Botany; Botanique. THE 8T0RT OF THE PLANTS. alike bo as aimost to resemble a sirgle row or perianth. There is one more point about the flowering- rush to which 1 would like to allude before going on to the other threefold flowers, and that is this. In arrowhead and water-plantain the carpels are very numerous, but each one-seeded. In flowering-rush, on the other hand, which has a larger and handsomer blossom, more attractive to insects, they are reduced to six; but these SIX have many seeds in each, bo that a single act of fertilisation suffices for eaoh of them. You
. Plant life [microform]. Botany; Botanique. THE 8T0RT OF THE PLANTS. alike bo as aimost to resemble a sirgle row or perianth. There is one more point about the flowering- rush to which 1 would like to allude before going on to the other threefold flowers, and that is this. In arrowhead and water-plantain the carpels are very numerous, but each one-seeded. In flowering-rush, on the other hand, which has a larger and handsomer blossom, more attractive to insects, they are reduced to six; but these SIX have many seeds in each, bo that a single act of fertilisation suffices for eaoh of them. You may remember that among the fivefold flowers we found a precisely similar advance on the part of the marsh-marigcid above the bulbous and meadow buttercups. This sort of advance is common in na^are. Where a flower learns how to produce many seeds in a carpel, it can soon dispense with several of its carpels, because a few now do well what the many did badly Furthermore, in higher plants, there is a tendency for these carpels to unite so as to form what we call a compound ovary, with a single style, when one act of fertilisation suffices for all of Such combinations or labour- saving arrangements obviously benefit both the msect and the plant, and have therefore been doubly favoured by natura) oAlection. We see this advance beautifully illustrated in the largest and lovelieRt family of the threefold flowers, the lily group, which contains a great number of the haxidsoraest insect - fertilised blossoms, and is therefore deservedly an im- mense favourite in flower-gardens. All the lilies. 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
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